Yet another quote that wasn't

[radagastly]

If I may venture a guess . . .
It may be Thorin from The Hobbit speaking of the desolation of Smaug as they approached the Lonely Mountain in the chapter "On the Doorstep".

The land about them grew bleak and barren, though once, as Thorin told them, it had been green and fair.

"Green they were and pleasant, and now lie bare and empty, and no merry sound stirs this dreadful silence."