“[Hobbits] are a little people, smaller than Dwarves: less stout and stocky, that is, even when they are not actually much shorter. Their height is variable, ranging between two and four feet of our measure.”
Fellowship of the Ring, Prologue
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Based on the dates of birth and death in LotR Appendix A, 240-260 years is a typical lifespan for a Dwarf. Dwalin was unusually long lived, at 340 years.
Fíli and Kíli were considered “young” during the events of The Hobbit, at 82 and 77 years old. Frór was killed in battle at age 37.
Thorin “was ninety-five, a great dwarf of proud bearing” when his father was captured and he became leader.
Dwarves “lay their dead only in stone not in earth”. But they have been known to build funeral pyres “rather than leave their kin to beast or bird or carrion-orc.” There is thus a backhanded status in cremation, since it suggests the deceased died during a desperate campaign.
Lord of the Rings, Appendix A
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“Dís was the daughter of Thráin II. She is the only dwarf-woman named in these histories. It was said by Gimli that there are few dwarf women, probably no more than a third of the whole people. They seldom walk abroad except at great need. They are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the dwarf-men that the eyes and ears of other peoples cannot tell them apart. This has given rise to the foolish opinion among Men that there are no dwarf-women, and that the Dwarves 'grow out of stone.'
“It is because of the fewness of women among them that the kind of the Dwarves increases slowly, and is in peril when they have no secure dwellings. For Dwarves take only one wife or husband each in their lives, and are jealous, as in all matters of their rights. The number of dwarf-men that marry is actually less than one-third. For not all the women take husbands: some desire none; some desire one that they cannot get, and so will have no other. As for the men, very many also do not desire marriage, being engrossed in their crafts.”
Lord of the Rings, Appendix A
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“Dwarf Runes” are actually based on an Elvish system from Doriath, for writing Sindarin.
Lord of the Rings, Appendix E
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“They are a tough, thrawn race for the most part, secretive, laborious, retentive of memories of injuries (and of benefits), lovers of stone, of gems, of things that take shape under the hands of craftsmen rather than things that live by their own life. But they are not evil by nature, and few ever served the Enemy of free will, whatever the tales of Men may have alleged. For Men of old lusted after their wealth and the work of their hands, and there has been enmity between the races.
“But in the Third Age close friendship still was found in many places between Men and Dwarves; and it was according to the nature of the Dwarves that ... travelling about the lands, ... they should use the languages of men among whom they dwelt. Yet in secret (a secret which unlike the Elves, they did not willingly unlock, even to their friends) they used their own strange tongue, changed little by the years; for it had become a tongue of lore rather than a cradle-speech, and they tended it and guarded it as a treasure of the past. Few of other race have succeeded in learning it. In this history it appears only in such place-names as Gimli revealed to his companions; and in the battle-cry which he uttered in the siege of the Hornburg....
“...Their own secret and “inner” names, their true names, the Dwarves have never revealed to any one of alien race. Not even on their tombs do they inscribe them.”
Lord of the Rings, Appendix F
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“Since they were to come in the days of the power of Melkor, Aulë made the Dwarves strong to endure. Therefore they are stone-hard, stubborn, fast in friendship and in enmity, and they suffer toil and hunger and hurt of body more hardily than all other speaking peoples; and they live long, far beyond the span of Men, yet not for ever.
“Aforetimes it was held among the Elves of Middle Earth that dying the Dwarves returned to the earth and the stone of which they were made; yet that is not their own belief. For they say that Aulë the Maker, whom they call Mahal, cares for them, and gathers them to Mandos in halls set apart; and that he declared to their Fathers of old that Ilúvatar will hallow them and give them a place among the Children in the End. Then their part shall be to serve Aulë and to aid him in the remaking of Arda after the Last Battle.
“They say also that the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves return to live again in their own kin and to bear once more their ancient names....”
Silmarillion, “Of Aulë and Yavanna”
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“Though the Dwarves ever demanded a price for all that they did, whether with delight or with toil, at this time they held themselves paid. For Melian taught them much that they were eager to learn, and Thingol rewarded them with many fair pearls.”
Silmarillion, “Of the Sindar”
“Last of all the eastern forces to stand firm were the Dwarves of Belegost, and thus they won renown. For the Naugrim withstood fire more hardily than either Elves or Men, and it was their custom moreover to wear great masks in battle hideous to look upon; and those stood them in good stead against the dragons. ... But the Naugrim made a circle about [Glaurung] when he assiled them, and even his mighty armour was not full proof against he blows of their great axes;l and when in his rage Glaurung turned and struck down Azaghâl, Lord of Belegost, and crawled over him, with his last stroke Azaghâl drove a knife into his belly, and so wounded him that he fled the field...Then the Dwarves raised up the body of Azaghâl and bore it away; and with slow steps they walked behind singing a dirge in deep voices, as if were a funeral pomp in their own country, and gave no heed more to their foes; and none dared to stay them.”
Silmarillion, “Of the Fifth Battle”
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“The Dwarves indeed proved tough and hard to tame; they ill endure the domination of others, and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows. They used their rings only for the getting of wealth; but wrath and an overmastering greed of gold were kindled in their hearts, of which evil enough after came to the profit of Sauron.”
Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”
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“In the darkness of Arda already the Naugrim wrought great works, for they had, even from the first days of their Fathers, marvellous skill with metals and with stone, though their works had little beauty until they had met the Noldor and learned somewhat of their arts.... But in that ancient time the Dwarves still wrought iron and copper rather than silver and gold; and the making of weapons and gear of war was their chief smith-craft. They it was that first devised mail of linked rings, and in the making of byrnies and of hauberks none among Elves or Men have proved their equals. Thus they aided the Eldar in their war with the Orcs of Morgoth; though the Noldor believed that some of their folk would not have been loath to smithy also for Morgoth, had he been in need of their work or open to their trade. For buying and selling and exchange were their delight, and the winning of wealth thereby; and this they gathered rather to hoard then to use, save in further trading.
“The Naugrim were ever, as they still remain, short and squat in stature; they were deep-breasted, strong in the arm, and stout in the leg, and their beards were long. Indeed this strangeness they have that no Man nor Elf has ever seen a beardless Dwarf – unless he were shaven in mockery, and would then be more like to die of shame than of many other hurts that to us would seem more deadly. For the Naugrim have beards from the beginning of their lives, male and female alike; nor indeed can their womenkind be discerned by those of other race, be it in feature or in gait or in voice, nor in any wise save this: that they go not to war, and seldom save at direst need issue from their deep bowers and halls. It is said, also, that their womenkind are few, and save their kings and chieftains few Dwarves ever wed; wherefore the race multiplied slowly, and now is dwindling.
“The father-tongue of the Dwarves Aulë himself devised for them, and their languages have thus no kinship with those of the Quendi. The Dwarves do not gladly teach their tongue to those of alien race; and in use they have made it harsh and intricate, so that of those few whom they have received in full friendship fewer still have learned it well. But they themselves learn swiftly other tongues, and in converse they use as they may the speech of Elves and Men with whom they deal. Yet in secret they use their own speech only, and that (it is said) is slow to change....”
Tolkien's notes, published in History of Middle Earth, volume 11, The War of the Jewels,
from a note titled Concerning the Dwarves, written partly in 1951 and partly in 1958
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Tolkien did make some drafts of how to address the “Dwarf Mothers” question. He apparently never worked out a solution that pleased him, and none of the notes made it into the published Silmarillion.
History of Middle Earth, volume 11, The War of the Jewels,
from a note titled Concerning the Dwarves, written partly in 1951 and partly in 1958
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First draft of LotR (before Tolkien had a clear idea about Rings of Power) 1937-38
“In the very ancient days the Ring-lord made many of these Rings: and sent them out through the world to snare people.... dwarves I don't believe had any; some say the rings don't work on them {I.e. dwarves don't become Ringwraiths}: they are too solid.”
First draft revised 1937-38
“In the ancient days the dark master made many Rings, and he dealt them out lavishly, so that they might be spread about to ensnare folk.... The dwarves it is said had seven, but nothing could make them invisible. In them it only kindled to flames the fire of greed, and the foundation of each of the seven hoards of the Dwarves of old was a golden ring. In this way the master controlled them.”
History of Middle Earth, vol. vi, The Return of the Shadow
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Christopher Tolkien:
“The importance of The Hobbit in _ the history of the evolution _ of Middle-earth lies then, at this time{1937, early drafts of LotR}, in the fact that it was published, and that a sequel was demanded. As a result, from the nature of The Lord of the Rings as it evolved, The Hobbit was _ drawn into _ Middle-earth — and transformed it; but as it stood in 1937 it was not part of it. Its significance for Middle-earth lies in what it would do, not in what it was.
“Later, The Lord of the Rings in turn reacted upon The Hobbit itself, in published and in (far more extensive) unpublished revisions of the text; but all that lies of course far in the future at the point which this History has reached.”
History of Middle Earth, vol. vi, The Return of the Shadow