By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many.
J. K. RowlingRead
There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that morality is subjective and that power is the ultimate goal, indicating that only the strong pursue it.
In this quote, J.K. Rowling conveys a perspective that challenges traditional notions of good and evil, implying that these concepts are not absolute but rather constructs of power dynamics. It suggests that individuals who do not seek power are inherently weak, and thus, power becomes the driving force behind human actions and decisions, overshadowing moral considerations.
In practice
During a debate about leadership styles, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of power.
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.
I will not judge a person to be spiritually dead whom I have judged formerly to have had spiritual life, though I see him at present in a swoon (faint)as to all evidences of the spiritual life. And the reason why I will not judge him so is this -- because if you judge a person dead, you neglect him, you leave him; but if you judge him in a swoon,(faint) though never so dangerous, you use all means for the retrieving of his life.
The only time you should look in your neighbor's bowl is to make sure that they have enough. You don't look in your neighbor's bowl to see if you have as much as them.
I will be as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice.
I consider the official Catholic attitude on divorce, birth control, and censorship exceedingly dangerous to mankind.
It must be a peace without victory... Victory would mean peace forced upon the loser, a victor's terms imposed upon the vanquished. It would be accepted in humiliation, under duress, at an intolerable sacrifice, and would leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory upon which terms of peace would rest, not permanently, but only as upon quicksand. Only a peace between equals can last.
We have believed - and we do believe now - that freedom is indivisible, that peace is indivisible, that economic prosperity is indivisible
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