J.K. Rowling — People

Painterly spectacles and a slender wooden wand on rumpled bedding lit by a bedside lantern. — Original artwork

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

J.K. Rowling

A small mask with one rough black half and one smooth pink half. — Original artwork

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

J.K. Rowling

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.

J.K. Rowling

A blank cream card leaning against a pot of purple flowers beside a curled gold ribbon on a peach background. — Original artwork

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

J.K. Rowling

Painterly small wooden writing desk with an open book, quill, pale flower and red wax seal. — Original artwork

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

J.K. Rowling

A pewter goblet spilling violet ink onto a saucer beside a cracked glass lens on a dark purple background. — Original artwork

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

J.K. Rowling

A small wooden desk holds a green slate with a copper tick mark and a crumpled paper ball. — Original artwork

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

J.K. Rowling

Painterly empty wooden bowl beside a folded brown blanket on a dark timber floor. — Original artwork

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.

J.K. Rowling

A toy steering wheel with a thin red thread leading to a suspended red leaf on a moss-green background. — Original artwork

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.

J.K. Rowling

A miniature wooden staircase with a railing stands on a plain blue-grey tabletop. — Original artwork

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.

J.K. Rowling

A small golden megaphone faces five pale buttons on burgundy fabric. — Original artwork

“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.”

J.K. Rowling

A green seedling rises through a cracked stone slab, with roots spreading through exposed soil against a moss-green background. — Original artwork

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.

J.K. Rowling

A stout moustached man, his thin wife and their plump son stand stiffly outside a neat suburban semi at dusk, a tabby cat on the wall and an owl on the lamp post. — Original artwork

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

J.K. Rowling

Watercolour of a barefoot girl in a nightgown at an open window at sunrise, looking out over fields and a river, a small suitcase and a map beside her. — Original artwork

The world is full of wonderful things you haven't seen yet. Don't ever give up on the chance of seeing them.

J.K. Rowling