J. K. Rowling Quotes

If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.

- J. K. Rowling

Measure Of A Man, Want, Equality

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 have failed by default.

- J. K. Rowling

Failure, Might, Which, Unless

There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other.

- J. K. Rowling

Some, Other, Some Things, Ending

Never be ashamed! There's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth bothering with.

- J. K. Rowling

Never, Some, Bothering, Ashamed

No, there is literally nothing on the business side that I wouldn't sacrifice in a heartbeat to have an extra couple of hours' writing. Nothing.

- J. K. Rowling

Hours, Side, Couple, Heartbeat

If you're holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time.

- J. K. Rowling

Will, Very, Very Long Time, Cabin

The internet has been a boon and a curse for teenagers.

- J. K. Rowling

Been, Teenagers, Curse, Boon

Secretly we're all a little more absurd than we make ourselves out to be.

- J. K. Rowling

More, Than, Make, Absurd

I pay a lot of tax, and I feel, one of the reasons I stay and pay why I'm not based in Monaco... I think my country helped me.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, Country, Based, Monaco

And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss.

- J. K. Rowling

Idea, Wandering, Off, Bliss

Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power to that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

- J. K. Rowling

Capacity, Shared, Empathize, Envision

People ask me if there are going to be stories of Harry Potter as an adult. Frankly, if I wanted to, I could keep writing stories until Harry is a senior citizen, but I don't know how many people would actually want to read about a 65 year old Harry still at Hogwarts playing bingo with Ron and Hermione.

- J. K. Rowling

Year, About, Harry, Adult

I did not set out to convert anyone to Christianity.

- J. K. Rowling

Christianity, Set, Anyone, Convert

I do get recognized, but I must say Edinburgh is a fantastic city to live if you're well-known. There is an innate respect for privacy in Edinburgh people, and I also think they're used to seeing me walking around, so I don't think I'm a very big deal.

- J. K. Rowling

Big, Deal, Very, Fantastic

The thing about the 600 words, I mean some day, you can do a very, very, very hard day's work and not write a word, just revising, or you would scribble a few words.

- J. K. Rowling

Work, Some, Very, Revising

However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

- J. K. Rowling

College, Been, However, Backgrounds

I would always want printed books.

- J. K. Rowling

Always, Books, Would, Printed

I always have a basic plot outline, but I like to leave some things to be decided while I write.

- J. K. Rowling

Some, Always, I Write, Outline

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.

- J. K. Rowling

Courage, Enemies, Deal, Stand Up

Honestly, I think we should be delighted people still want to read, be it on a Kindle or a Nook or whatever the latest device is.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, I Think, Still, Delighted

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.

- J. K. Rowling

Pleasure, Prose, Read, Now And Then

My favorite literary heroine is Jo March. It is hard to overstate what she meant to a small, plain girl called Jo, who had a hot temper and a burning ambition to be a writer.

- J. K. Rowling

Small, Meant, Literary, Overstate

I don't think I am evangelical in my work.

- J. K. Rowling

Work, I Am, Think, Evangelical

I've never managed to keep a journal longer than two weeks.

- J. K. Rowling

Never, Journal, Longer, Two Weeks

The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and must therefore be treated with great caution.

- J. K. Rowling

Beautiful, Truth, Treated, Terrible Thing

I knew no one who'd ever been in the public eye.

- J. K. Rowling

Eye, Been, Ever, Public Eye

His priority did not seem to be to teach them what he knew, but rather to impress upon them that nothing, not even... knowledge, was foolproof.

- J. K. Rowling

Teach, Knew, Rather, Foolproof

Some of the furor that surrounded a Harry Potter publication was fun.

- J. K. Rowling

Some, Surrounded, Harry, Publication

We're a phenomenally snobby society, and it's such a rich seam. The middle class is so funny: it's the class I know best, and it's the class where you find the most pretension, so that's what makes the middle classes so funny.

- J. K. Rowling

Middle, Makes, Phenomenally, Snobby

I remember the first time I heard a teenager say 'LOL.' Just what? But it means 'laugh.' Why don't you just laugh? What are you doing?

- J. K. Rowling

Doing, I Remember, Means, Laugh

Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.

- J. K. Rowling

Young, Old, Feels, Old Men

Poverty entails fear and stress and sometimes depression. It meets a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts that is something on which to pride yourself but poverty itself is romanticized by fools.

- J. K. Rowling

Stress, Entails, Which, Fools

On the subject of literary genres, I've always felt that my response to poetry is inadequate. I'd love to be the kind of person that drifts off into the garden with a slim volume of Elizabethan verse or a sheaf of haikus, but my passion is story.

- J. K. Rowling

Love, Subject, Literary, Garden

I'm interested in that drive, that rush to judgment, that is so prevalent in our society. We all know that pleasurable rush that comes from condemning, and in the short term it's quite a satisfying thing to do, isn't it?

- J. K. Rowling

Rush, Our, Condemning, Satisfying

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.

- J. K. Rowling

Give, Fantasy, Read, Science Fiction

The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous.

- J. K. Rowling

Famous, Never, Wanted, Fame Thing

I'm not anti-middle-class in the slightest. Look at me! I am very pro people putting time and money and effort into trying to improve the world.

- J. K. Rowling

Effort, Very, Putting, Time And Money

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do ever - was write novels.

- J. K. Rowling

Wanted, Ever, Convinced, Novels

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.

- J. K. Rowling

Regret, Benefits, Away, Gems

'Harry Potter' gave me back self respect. Harry gave me a job to do that I loved more than anything else.

- J. K. Rowling

More, Back, Harry, Potter

The moment I said I'd finished a book, I knew what would happen. There would be a bidding war, and I would end up with someone who'd got the fattest wallet, who had bought it because I'd written Harry Potter. That would have been why.

- J. K. Rowling

Book, Been, Bidding, Potter

I will carry on writing, to be sure. But I don't know if I would want to publish again after Harry Potter.

- J. K. Rowling

Want, Will, Sure, Potter

Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the fates.

- J. K. Rowling

Never, Against, Anyone, Caprice

In fact, you couldn't give me anything to make me go back to being a teenager. Never. No, I hated it.

- J. K. Rowling

Fact, Give, Go, Teenager

I imagined being a famous writer would be like being like Jane Austen.

- J. K. Rowling

Famous, Like, Would, Austen

Jane Austen is the pinnacle to which all other authors aspire.

- J. K. Rowling

Aspire, Other, Which, Austen

The poor are discussed as this homogeneous mash, like porridge. The idea that they might be individuals, and be where they are for very different, diverse reasons, again seems to escape some people.

- J. K. Rowling

Some, Very, Reasons, Diverse

I love inventing names, but I also collect unusual names, so that I can look through my notebook and choose one that suits a new character.

- J. K. Rowling

Love, New, Through, Collect

Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world.

- J. K. Rowling

World, Even, Else, Good Sign

The middle class is so funny, it's the class I know best, and it's the class where you find the most pretension, so that's what makes the middle classes so funny.

- J. K. Rowling

Middle, Makes, Classes, Middle Class

I always felt an outsider.

- J. K. Rowling

Always, Felt, Outsider

Failure means a stripping away of the inessential.

- J. K. Rowling

Failure, Away, Means, Stripping

Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

- J. K. Rowling

Benefits, Other, Mattered, Stripping

You lose your individuality a huge amount when you have no money, and I certainly had that experience.

- J. K. Rowling

Lose, Certainly, Amount, Individuality

In a novel you have to resist the urge to tell everything.

- J. K. Rowling

Tell, Everything, Resist, Novel

Bigotry is probably the thing I detest most.

- J. K. Rowling

Most, Thing, Detest

Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.

- J. K. Rowling

Enough, Possible, Got, Nerve

You sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.

- J. K. Rowling

Start, Possible, Sort, Nerve

I'm opposed to fundamentalism in any form.

- J. K. Rowling

Opposed, Form, Any, Fundamentalism

I felt I had to solve everyone's problems.

- J. K. Rowling

Everyone, Solve, Felt, Problems

Of all the subjects on this planet, I think my parents would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.

- J. K. Rowling

Been, I Think, Keys, Bathroom

I think you could ask 10 English people the same question about class and get a very different answer.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, I Think, Very, English People

There appears to be something to do with vehicles and movement that stimulates my writing.

- J. K. Rowling

Writing, Vehicles, Appears, Stimulates

Writing and cafes are strongly linked in my brain.

- J. K. Rowling

Writing, Brain, Strongly, Linked

Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain.

- J. K. Rowling

Trust, Think, Never, Keeps

Whatever the reviewers feel about 'The Casual Vacancy', it is what I wanted it to be, and you can't say fairer than that as a writer.

- J. K. Rowling

Say, Feel, About, Fairer

I just hate meetings. Though it's true that once you've made a lot of money, people around you might be full of ideas about ways to make lots more money and might be disappointed that you don't want to seize every opportunity to do so.

- J. K. Rowling

Seize, Every Opportunity, Disappointed

When people are very damaged, they can often meet the world with a kind of defiance.

- J. K. Rowling

World, Meet, Very, Damaged

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.

- J. K. Rowling

Myself, Expected, I Write, Popularity

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.

- J. K. Rowling

My Life, Big, Became, Rebuilt

Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.

- J. K. Rowling

Name, Itself, Thing, Increases

Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.

- J. K. Rowling

Big, Will, Always, Welcome

The moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

- J. K. Rowling

Responsibility, Old, Take, Old Enough

I received free health care.

- J. K. Rowling

Health, Free, Received, Health Care

Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.

- J. K. Rowling

Indifference, More, Damage, Outright

Humans have a knack for choosing precisely the things that are worst for them.

- J. K. Rowling

Things, Knack, Precisely, Humans

I've been asked this question so many times, do you feel you need to write a book for adults? No, I don't need to write a book for adults.

- J. K. Rowling

Question, Need, Been, Adult

I think the next thing I publish will be for children, but I don't really want to be held to that because I also know what my next book for adults will be, and I really like that, too, so it depends. I've always had more than one thing going.

- J. K. Rowling

Next, I Think, Held, Adult

I love a good Dorothy L. Sayers.

- J. K. Rowling

Love, Good, I Love, Dorothy

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

Give, The Most Important, Vocabulary

The thing about fantasy - there are certain things you just don't do in fantasy.

- J. K. Rowling

Fantasy, Certain Things, Certain

I've laid my friends bare.

- J. K. Rowling

Friends, Laid, Bare

I sometimes have a tendency to walk on the dark side.

- J. K. Rowling

Sometimes, Side, Tendency, Dark Side

If you love something - and there are things that I love - you do want more and more and more of it, but that's not the way to produce good work. So as an author, I need to write what I need to write.

- J. K. Rowling

Love, More, Need, Good Work

If you love something - and there are things that I love - you do want more and more and more of it, but that's not the way to produce good work.

- J. K. Rowling

Love, Work, More, Good Work

It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

- J. K. Rowling

More, Than, Far, Ability

The first story I finished was when I was six years old.

- J. K. Rowling

Old, First, Six, Finished

I would like to be remembered as someone who did the best she could with the talent she had.

- J. K. Rowling

She, Remembered, Would, Did

I've been writing my entire life, and I'll always write.

- J. K. Rowling

Writing, Always, Been, Write

I'm a writer, and I will write what I want to write.

- J. K. Rowling

Want, Will, Writer, Write

I think I've really exhausted the magical. It was a lot of fun, but I've put it behind me for the time being.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, Behind, I Think, Magical

I loved writing for kids, I loved talking to children about what I'd written, I don't want to leave that behind.

- J. K. Rowling

Want, Behind, About, Written

There was a point where I really felt I had 'penniless divorcee lone parent' tattooed on my head.

- J. K. Rowling

Parent, Felt, Lone, Tattooed

I'm pro Union.

- J. K. Rowling

Pro, Union

But I was the most unashamed lone parent you were ever going to meet.

- J. K. Rowling

Parent, Most, Ever, Lone

What's coming will come and we'll just have to meet it when it does.

- J. K. Rowling

Will, Come, Does, Meet

We do stigmatise teens a lot and see them as scary and alien.

- J. K. Rowling

See, Them, Lot, Scary

When I was in my teens I had issues with OCD.

- J. K. Rowling

Issues, Had, Teens

I don't need to publish to make a living.

- J. K. Rowling

Living, Need, Make, Publish

I think that I've had a very strange life.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, I Think, Very, Strange

There's no formula.

- J. K. Rowling

Formula

I think you have a moral responsibility when you've been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give intelligently.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, Give, Given, Responsibility

I am the freest author in the world.

- J. K. Rowling

I Am, World, Am, Author

Death obsesses me, yes it does. I can't really understand why it doesn't obsess everyone - I think it does really, I'm just a little more out about it.

- J. K. Rowling

Death, Think, I Think, Obsess

It is perfectly possible to live a very moral life without a belief in God, and I think it's perfectly possible to live a life peppered with ill-doing and believe in God.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, I Think, Very, Moral

If ever I expected to come face to face with an angry Christian fundamentalist, it wasn't in FAO Schwarz.

- J. K. Rowling

Christian, Face, Ever, Fundamentalist

I don't think about who the audience is for my books.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, Audience, About, Books

I feel 80% of my life is completely normal.

- J. K. Rowling

My Life, Feel, I Feel, Normal

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

- J. K. Rowling

Dreams, Forget, Does, Dwell

I like to get in among a set of people and get to know them very well.

- J. K. Rowling

Like, Very, Set, Among

The best of us must sometimes eat our words.

- J. K. Rowling

Best, Sometimes, Eat, Words

I'm an emotional person.

- J. K. Rowling

Person, Emotional

I am not a particularly thick-skinned person.

- J. K. Rowling

I Am, Person, Am, Particularly

I am proud of having done what I've done. Very proud.

- J. K. Rowling

I Am, Very, Having, Proud

I'm not a natural joiner.

- J. K. Rowling

Natural

To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

- J. K. Rowling

Death, Mind, Next, Adventure

Death is just life's next big adventure.

- J. K. Rowling

Death, Big, Next, Adventure

I really don't believe in magic.

- J. K. Rowling

Believe, Really, Magic

I think you're working and learning until you die.

- J. K. Rowling

Think, Working, I Think, Die

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