The Tolkien Translation Game!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No!

[Eldy]

Is it Frodo, speaking of Bilbo?

"I would rather see him than all the towers and palaces in the world."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It is indeed! You turn.

[Eldy]

Thanks!

Haunted Pink Bandit! I can't work and I can't keep up with my family.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Well, since no one else is asking, is this said by a hobbit?

[Eldy]

No, not by a Hobbit.

(I don't know if the first sentence put people off from guessing since it's so out there, but the second is a comparatively reasonable translation.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

First age?

[Eldy]

No, later.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Said by a dwarf?

[Eldy]

Not by a Dwarf.

[Jude]

Was it spoken by Barliman Butterbur?

[Eldy]

Not Butterbur, nor any other human, nor anyone near Butterbur's corner of Middle-earth.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Said by an Elf?

Said after the Long Expected Party?

[Eldy]

No, not by an Elf.

Yes, after the Long-expected Party.

[Inanna]

Gandalf?

[Jude]

Does the word "family" refer to actual blood-relatives?

[Eldy]

Not Gandalf.

"Family" does not appear in the original quote. The word it's translated from has multiple meanings, and in this case does not refer to blood relatives.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

To summarize what we know so far: not spoken by a hobbit, dwarf, human, elf or Gandalf; said in LOTR somewhere; not stated anywhere near Bree; and the second sentence is a reasonably close translation even though the word family is not present in the original.

[Eldy]

Correct!

I'll note that the original quote has synonyms for "bandit" and "work" rather than those specific words, but the contextual meaning is the same in both the original and the translation.

[Jude]

This might be it:

You cursed peaching sneakthief! You can’t do your job, and you can’t even stick by your own folk.

One of the orcs that came within a hair's breath of catching Frodo and Sam near Mount Doom.