I heard from my dear friend Tiberius Ogden, that you can produce a Patronus? For a bonus point... ?Harry raised his wand, looked directly at Umbridge, and imagined her being sacked. Expecto Patronum!...

The only reason to delay at this point was because the immediate prospect was so deeply uninviting.

I did not hesitate to be disagreeable to preserve my independence.

That's the good part about dying; when you've got nothing to lose, you run any risk you want.

If you feel your value lies in being merely decorative, I fear that someday you might find yourself believing that's all that you really are. Time erodes all such beauty, but what it cannot diminish...

It is common that on sleepless nights one is theoretically more decisive than during the day, in fact. The next day, upon coldly analyzing this possibility, I concluded that I would never have enough...

You cannot say to the sun, or to the rain, To a man, geisha can only be half a wife. We are the wives of nightfall. And yet, to learn kindness after so much unkindness, to understand that a little...

How do you defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorized.

Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. And never...

How does one kill fear, I wonder? How do you shoot a spectre through the heart, slash off its spectral head, take it by its spectral throat?

Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world. Mortal or immortal, few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds --...

What is always needed in the appreciation of art, or life, is the larger perspective. Connections made, or at least attempted, where none existed before, the straining to encompass in one's glance at...

What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also...

...courage wasn't something you were bequeathed at birth, and it wasn't a lack of fright. It was overcoming your fear, because the ones you love mattered more.

Was that all it took to be brave? Knowing that someone believed in you?

I've learned that to be courageous is to feel fear within, every step of the way. Courage does not take over, it fights and struggles through every word you say and every step you take. It's a battle...

They were all becoming brothers, in the manner he had seen before: facing death together was the greatest of levelers.

But there is one person who expected the unexpected from me and the only time I noticed disappointment on his face was when I cowered like a sheep. And I had to take a moment to figure out I'm not...

I'd like to somehow find the courage to be on the outside who I am on the inside.

Personal affection is a luxury you can have only after all your enemies are eliminated. Until then, everyone you love is a hostage, sapping your courage and corrupting your judgment.

Mma Ramotswe reflected on how easy it was to find oneself committed to a course of action simply because one lacked the courage to say no.