J. K. Rowling Quotes on Life, Writing & Books
J. K. Rowling is one of the most successful and accomplished British authors of this generation, who first had to experience a rough time before finding success
Updated 11 min read
J. K. Rowling became a famous writer after the release of Harry Potter, the story of a young wizard in training who went through otherworldly adventures with his closest friends as he continued to master magic.
Her books and quotes became inspirational.
She received numerous accolades for her work on the Harry Potter series, including the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2000, Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2001, Legion of Honour in 2009, and the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in 2010, to mention a few.
She’s also a producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist.
Today, Rowling is a respected voice in literature and a powerful influence over young people due to her awe-inspiring journey to success and unique perspective of life and its many facets after reaching rock bottom.
J. K. Rowling Quotes on Life
“It does not dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.”
“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”
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“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.”
“Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.”
“It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.”
“Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress adventure.”
“Honestly, if you were any slower, you’d be going backward.”
J. K. Rowling Quotes About Writing
“Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.”
“I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It’s totally for myself. I never in my wildest dreams expected this popularity.”
“You should write a book,” Ron told Hermione as he cut up his potatoes, “translating mad things girls do so boys can understand them.”
“I’m sure there will always be some that take it too far, but that’s the case with everything. I believe it’s much better to engage in dialog with children to explain the difference between fantasy and reality. Then they are better equipped to deal with people who might have taken it too far.”
“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. I wish you all very good lives.”
“There’s nothing better when something comes and hits you and you think ‘YES’!”
“And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for a while is just bliss.”
“I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized, and I still had a daughter who I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
Inspirational J. K. Rowling Quotes
“Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.”
“Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.”
“It is my belief… that the truth is generally preferable to lies.”
“Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.”
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
“Don’t let the muggles get you down.”
“I’m going to keep going until I succeed — or die. Don’t think I don’t know how this might end. I’ve known it for years.”
J. K. Rowling Quotes About Books
“Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.”
“I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”
“One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.”
“Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.”
“I don’t think about who the audience is for my books.”
“With all of their benefits, and there are many, one of the things I regret about e-books is that they have taken away the necessity of trawling foreign bookshops or the shelves of holiday houses to find something to read. I’ve come across gems and stinkers that way, and both can be fun.”
“I would always want printed books.”
“I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”
J. K. Rowling Funny Quotes
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
“Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have.”
“He can run faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo.”
“Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking…”
“Percy wouldn’t notice a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing one of Dobby’s hats.”
“You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts…but you cannot deny he’s got style…”
“Cinderella? Snow White? What’s that? An illness?”
J. K. Rowling Quotes on Reading
“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”
“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”
“When in doubt, go to the library.”
“I don’t read ‘chick lit,’ fantasy or science fiction but I’ll give any book a chance if it’s lying there and I’ve got half an hour to kill.”
“Every now and then I read a poem that does touch something in me, but I never turn to poetry for solace or pleasure in the way that I throw myself into prose.”
“Read a lot. Reading really helps. Read anything you can get your hands on.”
“Wherever I am, if I’ve got a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy.”
“The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.”
J. K. Rowling Quotes on Harry Potter
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all those who live without love.”
“It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew – and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents – that there was all the difference in the world.”
“It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.”
“The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.”
“Harry was left to ponder in silence the depths to which girls would sink to get revenge.”
“And Harry saw very clearly as he sat there under the hot sun how people who cared about him had stood in front of him one by one, his mother, his father, his godfather, and finally Dumbledore, all determined to protect him; but now that was over.
“Harry Potter gave me back my self-respect. Harry gave me a job to do that I loved more than anything else.”
J. K. Rowling Quotes on Love
“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
“To hurt is as human as to breathe.”
“Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.”
“According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scars than almost anything else.”
“Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign… to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.”
“Just because it’s taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn’t mean no one else has spotted I’m a girl!”
“When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.”
“And without thinking, without planning it, without worrying about the fact that fifty people were watching, Harry kissed her. After several long moments, or it might have been half an hour-or possibly several sunlit days- they broke apart.”
J. K. Rowling Quotes About Magic
“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already.”
“Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.”
“Of all the trees we could’ve hit, we had to get one that hits back.”
“Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes. “A magic beyond all we do here!”
“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”
“There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it.”
“I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper on death.”
“Hearing voices no one else can hear isn’t a good sign, even in the wizarding world.”
J. K. Rowling Quotes on Friendship
“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
“Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory.”
“We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.”
“We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”
“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.”
“You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.”
“Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.”
“The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”
“There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.”
Takeaways from the Author of the Harry Potter Series
If anything, J. K. Rowling has opened the mind of many people to how precious life is and its dramatic consequences.
She dedicated her own life to teaching the world to marvel with child-like awe at the wonderful things she created and how important it is not to lose the memory of that experience when traversing through life.
Rowling brought everyone to a fantasy world through the Harry Potter series, where they could feel free to explore, imagine, and resist failure as they examined what failure meant.
Adversity can be very destructive, but Rowling managed to get past all these deadly things on her own will. While her journey was both a beautiful and terrible thing, she managed to come out unscathed.
Thankfully, there’s a little bit of Harry Potter in all of us today, thanks to Rowling’s creative work.
