When looking for a daily dose of wisdom, especially in times of trouble, one can’t overlook J.K. Rowling’s quotes from her 2008 commencement speech to a Harvard graduating class. There she was talking about the importance of imagination and failure in shaping her life. As a true survivor, renowned philanthropist and advocate of tolerance, J.K. Rowling proved that she’s got some important things to tell to the muggles outside the wizarding world.
Her words, which she delivered to some of the most elite students in the world, went beyond the usual career cliches and became powerful messages for everyone who is facing some setback in life or thinks that the failure is the worst thing that can happen to them. But the road to success wasn’t without her fair share of hardship.
“An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless … By every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.,”
This is what J.K. Rowling said during the Harvard commencement speech. At that point, she became clinically depressed. That feeling of numbness, despair and grief inspired her to later create Dementors, soul-sucking creatures that live off of people’s worst fears, in Harry Potter series.
But she discovered that the failure could be liberating. It only inspired her to keep going after the thing that she wanted the most, and that is to be a writer. And at the end of her quest, as well as at the end of her Harry Potter series, she found out that love is the true meaning of life and the only thing worth living for. Very powerful message, don’t you think so?
These days J.K. Rowling, one of the bestselling authors of all time and one of the richest women in the world, donates millions to charities because she knows how it is when you hit rock bottom. Below you will find inspiring J.K. Rowling’s quotes that will help you overcome adversity and bring you just a little bit of magic in your life.
If you have a dream but keep running into obstacles or just going through tough times, this positive words will sparkle your day and convince you that all is not so bad. And that every new day brings new possibilities.
J.K. ROWLING QUOTES ABOUT LIFE, FAILURE, SUCCESS, AND IMAGINATION
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There is an expiration 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
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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. So I think it’s fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard I was the biggest failure I knew. – J.K. Rowling
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So 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
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The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. 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’ve ever earned. – J.K. Rowling
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So given a Time-Turner, I would tell my twenty-one-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes. – J.K. Rowling
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If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. – J.K. Rowling
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So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. – J.K. Rowling
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If someone asked for my recipe for happiness, step one would be finding out what you love doing most in the world and step two would be finding someone to pay you to do it. – J.K. Rowling
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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
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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
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I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never. What’s to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that. – J.K. Rowling
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I think the willfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid. – J.K. Rowling
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The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. – J.K. Rowling
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I don’t think there’s any harm at all in allowing a kid to fantasize. In fact, I think to stop people from fantasizing is a very destructive thing indeed. – J.K. Rowling
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