By all means continue destroying my possessions. I daresay I have too many.
J. K. RowlingRead
Her grief was so big and wild it terrified her, like an evil beast that had erupted from under the floorboards.
Interpretation
Grief can be overwhelming and frightening, comparable to a powerful, uncontrollable force.
This quote captures the intensity and chaos of grief, likening it to a terrifying beast that suddenly emerges, illustrating how profound loss can disrupt and take over a person's emotional landscape. The imagery suggests that grief is not only a personal struggle but also something that can feel monstrous and consuming, evoking fear and helplessness in those who experience it.
In practice
In a eulogy, one might reference this quote to illustrate the profound impact of loss.
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 think the extent to which I have any balance at all, any mental balance, is because of being a farm kid and being raised in those isolated rural areas.
Football is a grand game for developing a lad physically and also morally, for he learns to play with good temper and unselfishness, to play in his place, and to play the game, and these are the best of training for any game of life.
My books are about ordinary people, like you, me, people on the street, people who really have an expectation of reasonable happiness in life, want their life to have a sense of security and predictability, who want to belong to something bigger than them, who want love and affection in their life, who want a good future for the children.
She would stay on the road and in hiding, a balloon floating through the sky, eating up hundreds of miles a day with a help of the perpetual tailwind.
I am living my real life, this is it. Now is now, and if I waited to be happier, waited to have fun, waited to do the things that I know I ought to do, I might never get the chance.
The end is simply the beginning of an even longer story.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.