By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many.
J. K. RowlingRead
I had an American journalist say to me, "Is it true you wrote the whole of the first novel on napkins?" I was tempted to say, "On teabags, I used to save them.
Interpretation
Creative ideas and stories can emerge from humble beginnings and unconventional places.
This quote by J.K. Rowling highlights the irony and creativity behind her writing process, emphasizing that significant works of art can originate from everyday objects, like napkins or teabags. It serves to inspire others by suggesting that resourcefulness and imagination are more important than having formal tools or materials.
In practice
During a public speaking event about creativity in writing.
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.
Those who teach by their doctrine must teach by their life, or else they pull down with one hand what they build up with the other.
Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.
I often think that the prime directive for me as a teacher of writing is akin to that for a physician, which is this: do no harm.
One of the chief obstacles to intelligence is credulity, and credulity could be enormously diminished by instructions as to the prevalent forms of mendacity. Credulity is a greater evil in the present day than it ever was before, because, owing to the growth of education, it is much easier than it used to be to spread misinformation, and, owing to democracy, the spread of misinformation is more important than in former times to the holders of power.
When I was writing for children, I was writing genre fiction. It was like making a good chair. However beautiful it looked, it needed four legs of the same length, it had to be the right height and it had to be comfortable.
Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.
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