By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many.
J. K. RowlingRead
And sure enough, in seeking to become superhuman this foolhardy young man renders himself inhuman. The heart that he has locked away slowly shrivels and grows hair, symbolising his own descent to beasthood.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The pursuit of becoming greater can lead to losing one's humanity if not balanced with compassion.
This quote reflects on the dangers of overambition and the loss of one's essential human qualities in the quest for superiority. The young man's desire to transcend human limitations ultimately results in a detachment from his emotions and morals, leading him to a beastly state, symbolizing the importance of maintaining one's humanity and empathy even in the pursuit of greatness.
Themes
AmbitionHumanityEmotionCompassionSuperhuman
In practice
Example use cases
A speaker discussing the importance of empathy in leadership might cite this quote to emphasize the need for balance in ambition and humanity.
More from J. K. Rowling
All quotes →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
The reward of commercial civilization is the ability to consume a never-ending array of products.There are limits beyond which commodities cannot be multiplied without preventing their consumers from affirming themselves through the exercise of their personal freedom.When market dependence reaches a certain threshold it deprives people of their power to live creatively and to act autonomously. And precisely because this new impotence is so deeply experienced, it is expressed with difficulty.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Freedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority or government has a monopoly on the truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put in this world has been put there for a reason and has something to offer.
Ronald ReaganRead
The universe is then one, infinite, immobile. ... It is not capable of comprehension and therefore is endless and limitless, and to that extent infinite and indeterminable, and consequently immobile.
Giordano BrunoRead
One of the guiding beliefs of our consuming age is that we are all free and independent individuals. That we can choose to do pretty much what we want, and if we can't, then it's bad. But at the same time, co-existing alongside this, there is a completely different, parallel universe where we all seem meekly to do what those in power tell us to do.
Adam CurtisRead
Some calamities - the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, 9/11 - have come like summer lightning, as bolts from the blue. The looming crisis of America's Ponzi entitlement structure is different. Driven by the demographics of an aging population, its causes, timing and scope are known.
George WillRead
Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.
Jane SmileyRead