Categories
J.K. Rowling

You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.

You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.

Categories
J.K. Rowling

I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Categories
J.K. Rowling

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it.

Categories
J.K. Rowling

Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships.

Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

Categories
J.K. Rowling

There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction

There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.

People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being–forgive me–rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger.

“I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being–forgive me–rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger.”

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

the gigantic talking spider, Ararog, that dwelled deep in the Forbidden Forest.

Harry had known Hagrid to present a vicious baby dragon with a teddy bear, seen him croon over giant scorpions with suckers and stings, attempt to reason with his brutal giant of a half-brother, but this was perhaps the most incomprehensible of all his monster fancies: the gigantic talking spider, Ararog, that dwelled deep in the Forbidden Forest.

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry did not usually lie in bed reading his textbooks; that sort of behaviour, as Ron rightly said, was indecent in anybody except Hermione, who was simply weird that way.

Harry did not usually lie in bed reading his textbooks; that sort of behaviour, as Ron rightly said, was indecent in anybody except Hermione, who was simply weird that way.

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry and Cho were now too embarrassed to look at each other, let alone talk to each other; what if Ron and Hermione started going out together, then split up? Could their friendship survive it? Harry remembered the few weeks when they had not been talking to each other in third year; he had not enjoyed trying to bridge the distance between them. And then, what if they didn’t split up? What if they became like Bill and Fleur, and it became excrutiatingly embarrassing to be in their presence, so that he was shut out for good?

Harry and Cho were now too embarrassed to look at each other, let alone talk to each other; what if Ron and Hermione started going out together, then split up? Could their friendship survive it? Harry remembered the few weeks when they had not been talking to each other in third year; he had not enjoyed trying to bridge the distance between them. And then, what if they didn’t split up? What if they became like Bill and Fleur, and it became excrutiatingly embarrassing to be in their presence, so that he was shut out for good?

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should.

“You prat Ron, look at the state of her!”
“Ginny, don’t call Ron a prat, you’re not the captain of this team—”
“Well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and I thought someone should.”

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Christmas was approaching fast… and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. Large groups of girls tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past, which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunately, however, Harry’s frequent night-time wanderings had given him an unusually good knowledge of the castle’s secret passageways.

Christmas was approaching fast… and great bunches of mistletoe had been hung at intervals along the corridors. Large groups of girls tended to converge underneath the mistletoe bunches every time Harry went past, which caused blockages in the corridors; fortunately, however, Harry’s frequent night-time wanderings had given him an unusually good knowledge of the castle’s secret passageways.

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“I’d love to go with you as friends! Nobody’s ever asked me to a party before, as a friend!”

“I’d love to go with you as friends! Nobody’s ever asked me to a party before, as a friend!”

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick.

I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick.

Categories
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“Greatness inspires envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies.”

“Greatness inspires envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies.”

Categories
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Ah…I wondered when I would be meeting you. It seems only yesterday your mother and father were in here buying their first wands.

Ah…I wondered when I would be meeting you. It seems only yesterday your mother and father were in here buying their first wands.