By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many.
J. K. RowlingRead
... you could claim that anything's real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist!
Interpretation
The quote suggests that beliefs should not be accepted simply because they lack disproof, emphasizing the importance of evidence in establishing reality.
In this quote, J. K. Rowling argues that it is insufficient to accept something as real or true solely based on the absence of evidence against it. This perspective encourages critical thinking and highlights the necessity of substantial proof to validate beliefs, rather than relying on mere speculation or assumptions.
In practice
In a debate about the existence of extraterrestrial life, this quote can highlight the necessity of proof.
By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many.
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.
Depression isn't just being a bit sad. It's feeling nothing. It's not wanting to be alive anymore.
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.
Imagine losing fingernails, Harry! That really puts our sufferings into perspective, doesn't it?
The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed.
Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.
To measure the man, measure his heart.
The consistent thinker, the consistently moral man, is either a walking mummy or else, if he has not succeeded in stifling all his vitality, a fanatical monomaniac.
Nakedness has no color: this can come as news only to those who have never covered, or been covered by, another naked human being.
The soul is not the body and it may be in one body or in another, and pass from body to body.
. . . Moon-Watcher felt the first faint twinges of a new and potent emotion. It was a vague and diffuse sense of envy--of dissatisfaction with his life. He had no idea of its cause, still less of its cure; but discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one small step toward humanity.
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