cahn

Well, to be fair, in this case "with certainty" means "I know it's there but it could be from somewhere else echoing that phrasing". The Brust one was familiar, but it kind of sounds Pythinesque, out of context. I hanest don't recognize the Tolkien at all, but I haven't actually read them since junior high; I mean to reread them; I just haven't gotten around to it. If I'd had to make a guess, I'd've guesssed either Austen/one of her contemporaries or one of the modern writers influenced by those authors.