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J. K. Rowling

86 quotes

“When the American deal came through, that meant security. It means that I can buy a flat. It means not worrying. The constant mind-blowing worry of wondering if you are going to be able to last the week without buying another pack of nappies. That is how it was and it is a horrible, horrible way to live.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview by Ann Treneman, as cited in "Joanne Rowling's secret is out", The Independent (21 November 1997)
“The wizards represent all that the true "muggle" most fears: They are plainly outcasts and comfortable with being so. Nothing is more unnerving to the truly conventional than the unashamed misfit!”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hermione was very easy to create because she is based almost entirely on myself at the age of 11. She is really a caricature of me. I wasn't as clever as she is, nor do I think I was quite such a know-it-all, though former classmates might disagree. Like Hermione, I was obsessed with achieving academically, but this masked a huge insecurity.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview by Margaret Weir, as cited in "Of magic and single motherhood", Salon (13 March 1999)
“I absolutely did not start writing these books to encourage any child into witchcraft. [...] I'm laughing slightly because to me, the idea is absurd.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have met thousands of children now, and not even one time has a child come up to me and said, "Ms. Rowling, I'm so glad I've read these books because now I want to be a witch." They see it for what it is [...] It is a fantasy world and they understand that completely. I don't believe in magic, either.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Success of Harry Potter bowls author over", CNN (21 October 1999)
“[On her first marriage] I married on October 16, 1992. I left on November 17, 1993. So that was the duration of what I considered to be the marriage. ... [O]bviously you do not leave a marriage after that very short period of time unless there are serious problems. I'm not the kind of person who bales out without there being serious problems. My relationship before that lasted seven years. I'm a long-term girl. And I had a baby with this man. But it didn't work. And it was clear to me that it was time to go and so I went. I never regretted it.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced. [...] It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it's a healthy feeling. It's a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Ann Treneman "J. K. Rowling : The Interview", The Times (30 June 2000)
“During the day I was writing in cafés as everyone famously knows, but could I just say for the record once and for all 'cause it's really irritating me: I did not write in cafés to escape my unheated flat, because I am not stupid enough to rent an unheated flat in Edinburgh in midwinter. It had heating. I went out and wrote in café because the way to make Jessica fall asleep was to keep her moving -- in the pushchair. So I used to take her out, tie her out, put her in the pushchair, walk her along -- the moment she fall asleep, into the nearest café and write.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harry Potter and Me, BBC television interview, December 2001
“I've never set out to teach anyone anything. It's been more of an expression of my views and feelings than sitting down and deciding "What is today's message?" And I do think that, although I never, again, sat down consciously and thought about this, I do think judging, even for my own daughter, that children respond to that than to "thought for the day.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with screenwriter Steve Kloves, moderated by by Lizo Mzimba. Chamber of Secrets DVD (February 2003)
“If you need to tell your readers something … there are only two characters that you can put it convincingly into their dialogue. One is Hermione, the other is Dumbledore. In both cases you accept, it's plausible that they have, well Dumbledore knows pretty much everything anyway, but that Hermione has read it somewhere. So, she's handy.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with screenwriter Steve Kloves, moderated by by Lizo Mzimba. Chamber of Secrets DVD (February 2003)
“I've given you more than I've given anyone else which I probably shouldn't probably say on — on screen, or they'll kidnap and torture him, and we need him.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with screenwriter Steve Kloves, moderated by by Lizo Mzimba. Chamber of Secrets DVD (February 2003)
“The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous. I imagined being a famous writer would be like being like Jane Austen. Being able to sit at home in the parsonage and your books would be very famous and occasionally you would correspond with the Prince of Wales's secretary.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Before her success] I totally felt a waste of space. I was lousy. Yes I did, yes. And now I feel that, it turns out there was one thing I was good at, and I'd always expected I could tell a story, and I suppose it's rather sad that I needed confirmation by being published.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in an interview with Jeremy Paxman, on Newsnight, from an edited transcript as published in "'Harry is a lot, lot, lot angrier in this book'", The Telegraph (20 June 2003)
“He [Harry] is very much in puberty [...] I just think it is a very confusing time. Yes, he's very confused in a boy way. He doesn’t understand how girls' minds work. [...] Harry, for the first time, does have a relationship of sorts. The emphasis is very much on 'of sorts' . . . That was really fun to write actually. I think you will find it painful. You should find it painful. It is painful but it was such fun to write. Poor Harry! What I put him through.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interviewed by Ann Treneman, as cited in "Meet Harry Potter at 15: girl trouble, hormones, death and anger", The Times (20 June 2003)
“I went to the British Book Awards that evening. I bumped into a woman I hadn't seen for nearly three years. The first thing she said to me? "You've lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw you!" "Well," I said, slightly nonplussed, "the last time you saw me I'd just had a baby." What I felt like saying was, "I've produced my third child and my sixth novel since I last saw you. Aren't either of those things more important, more interesting, than my size?" But no — my waist looked smaller! Forget the kid and the book: finally, something to celebrate!”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Section: Extra Stuff: For Girls Only, Probably...", J.K.Rowling Official Site (c. 2006)
“She might even have grown to love him romantically (she certainly loved him as a friend) if he had not loved Dark Magic so much, and been drawn to such loathesome people and acts.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 30 July 2007 archive of a Bloomsbury web chat after Death Hallows - regarding Lily Evans (Harry's mom) and Severus Snape
“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.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: "What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality." That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love best do live in us forever. So, whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 London Premiere (July 2011)
“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 (born 1965) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Online tweet, in response to an extremely depressed person contemplating suicide, as quoted in "J.K. Rowling Sends Beautiful Message to Fan Who Wants to 'Finally Give Up'" by Alex Ungerman ET Online (5 May 2015)
“The Internet doesn’t just offer opportunities for misogynistic abuse, you know. Penis enlargers can also be bought discreetly.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweet (8 May 2015), as cited in "J.K. Rowling Burns Twitter Troll With 'Penis Enlargers' Joke", The Hollywood Reporter (8 May 2015)
“How horrible. Voldemort was nowhere near as bad.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks on Donald Trump, in a Tweet (8 December 2015), as cited in Sian Cain "JK Rowling on Donald Trump: 'Voldemort was nowhere as bad'", The Guardian (8 December 2015)
“I had a bunch of racists telling me that because Hermione 'turned white' – that is, lost colour from her face after a shock – that she must be a white woman, which I have a great deal of difficulty with. But I decided not to get too agitated about it and simply state quite firmly that Hermione can be a black woman with my absolute blessing and enthusiasm.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview, as cited in Rebecca Ratcliffe "JK Rowling tells of anger at attacks on casting of black Hermione", The Observer (5 June 2016)
“I don't think I've ever wanted magic more.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweet quoted in "J.K. Rowling Wishes Magic Could Get U.K. Out of Brexit" by Amanda Calvo, Time (24 June 2016)
“Lupin’s condition of lycanthropy (being a werewolf) was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS. All kinds of superstitions seem to surround blood-borne conditions, probably due to taboos surrounding blood itself. The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 6 September 2016 in "Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies" published by Pottermore Presents
“If I try harder I might be reincarnated as a lonely virgin hiding behind a cartoon frog.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: January 2017 tweet, as reported by Ian Cheong of Heat Street
“Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweet dated 19 December 2019 in support of Maya Forstater, cited in "Maya Forstater: Who is woman in employment tribunal over transgender comments?" The Independent (27 April 2021)
“If sex isn't real, there's no same-sex attraction. If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn't hate to speak the truth.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweet (6 June 2020), as cited in "'Trans women are women': Daniel Radcliffe speaks out after JK Rowling tweets", The Guardian (9 June 2020)
“Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The long-term health risks of cross-sex hormones have been now been tracked over a lengthy period. These side-effects are often minimised or denied by trans activists.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a series of posts on Twitter/X (5 July 2020), as cited by Rachel McGrath "JK Rowling sparks fresh criticism with 'conversion therapy' tweets", Evening Standard (6 July 2020)
“'This isn't an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know it's time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I didn't expect in the aftermath of my cancellation was the avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you didn't already know — and why should you? — "TERF" is an acronym coined by trans activists, which stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. ... Ironically, radical feminists aren't even trans-exclusionary — they include trans men in their feminism, because they were born women.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“... as a much-banned author, I'm interested in freedom of speech.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Again and again I've been told to 'just meet some trans people.' I have: in addition to a few younger people, who were all adorable, I happen to know a self-described transsexual woman who's older than I am and wonderful.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The current explosion of trans activism is urging a removal of almost all the robust systems through which candidates for sex reassignment were once required to pass. A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We're living through the most misogynistic period I've experienced....Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the leader of the free world's long history of sexual assault accusations and his proud boast of 'grabbing them by the pussy', to the incel ('involuntarily celibate') movement that rages against women who won't give them sex, to the trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble. Everywhere, women are being told to shut up and sit down, or else.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've read all the arguments about femaleness not residing in the sexed body, and the assertions that biological women don't have common experiences, and I find them, too, deeply misogynistic and regressive.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It isn't enough for women to be trans allies. Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But, as many women have said before me, 'woman' is not a costume. 'Woman' is not an idea in a man's head. 'Woman' is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as progressive. Moreover, the 'inclusive' language that calls female people 'menstruators' and 'people with vulvas' strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning. I understand why trans activists consider this language to be appropriate and kind, but for those of us who've had degrading slurs spat at us by violent men, it's not neutral, it's hostile and alienating.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor. This isn't because I'm ashamed those things happened to me, but because they're traumatic to revisit and remember.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“... the scars left by violence and sexual assault don't disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you've made. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke — and even I know it's funny — but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven't heard them approaching.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you could come inside my head and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, you'd find solidarity and kinship.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable for all the reasons I've outlined. Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, they're most likely to be killed by sexual partners.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been paying the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a cunt, a bitch, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death.”
J. K. Rowling (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source