I was curious about this too and looked it up. The quote is:
> At 17, if you don't think Lord of The Rings is the greatest contribution to literature there's something wrong with your head. If you still think that at 50, there's definitely something wrong with your head.
Him talking about "contribution to literature" instead of "best story" changes the quote for me. It makes it more about the craft of writing -- and I agree: LOTR isn't the world's best literature. But it's still a damn good story.
> At 17, if you don't think Lord of The Rings is the greatest contribution to literature there's something wrong with your head. If you still think that at 50, there's definitely something wrong with your head.
(https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/dec/09/jrrtolkien.sci...)
Him talking about "contribution to literature" instead of "best story" changes the quote for me. It makes it more about the craft of writing -- and I agree: LOTR isn't the world's best literature. But it's still a damn good story.