QuoteProject
I can write anywhere. I made up the names of the characters on a sick bag while I was on an airplane. I told this to a group of kids and a boy said, "Ah, no, that's disgusting." And I said, "Well, I hadn't used the sick bag."
J. K. Rowling
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Creativity can thrive in any situation, even when it's unconventional or uncomfortable.

This quote by J.K. Rowling illustrates the idea that inspiration and creativity can emerge from the most unexpected circumstances. Rather than being hindered by an unusual setting, she emphasizes that one can find opportunities to create anywhere, showing that the tools and environment don't limit creativity, but rather the mindset of the individual does.

Themes

CreativityWritingImaginationInspirationFlexibility

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about creativity at a school, one might use this quote to show students that inspiration comes from anywhere.

More from J. K. Rowling

By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many.
J. K. RowlingRead
Where are you heading, if you’ve got the choice?” James lifted an invisible sword. “‘Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!’ Like my dad.” Snape made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him. “Got a problem with that?” “No,” said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. “If you’d rather be brawny than brainy —” “Where’re you hoping to go, seeing as you’re neither?” interjected Sirius.
J. K. RowlingRead
Depression isn't just being a bit sad. It's feeling nothing. It's not wanting to be alive anymore.
J. K. RowlingRead
I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit.
J. K. RowlingRead
Imagine losing fingernails, Harry! That really puts our sufferings into perspective, doesn't it?
J. K. RowlingRead
The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed.
J. K. RowlingRead

Similar quotes

In the end, excellence in education means excellence in teaching, and if this country would give the status to first grade teachers that we give to full professors, this one act alone would revitalize the nation's schools.
Ernest L. BoyerRead
I don't think that everyone should become a mathematician, but I do believe that many students don't give mathematics a real chance.
Maryam MirzakhaniRead
The writers we absorb when we're young bind us to them, sometimes lightly, sometimes with iron. In time, the bonds fall away, but if you look very closely you can sometimes make out the pale white groove of a faded scar, or the telltale chalky red of old rust.
Daniel MendelsohnRead
In many countries, they do not even keep track of how girls are doing in school, or if they are there at all. If we say, 'Girls count,' then we must count girls, so we can see if we are really making progress in educating every girl.
Malala YousafzaiRead
When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you. What I want is to have the reader come out just 6 percent more awake to the world.
George SaundersRead
It seems to me that the great pleasure of human life is not in having an opinion, but rather in learning all the ways you are wrong, and all the nuances you failed to account for, and all the truths that turned out to be not as simple as you once believed. And it seems to me that one of the central pleasures of attending school is that you get to read with really well-informed people who can help welcome you into a complex world stuffed with rich and maddening ambiguity.
John GreenRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.