GANDALF: It is in Men that we must place our hope.
Elrond: Men? Men are weak. The race of Men is failing. The blood of Númenor is all but spent, its pride and dignity forgotten.
It is because of Men the Ring survives. I was there Gandalf. I was there three thousand years when Isildur took the Ring.
I was there the day the strength of Men failed. - Lord of the Rings I