You’re not supposed to dislike your own child. You were supposed to like them no matter what, even if they were not what you wanted.

Magic causes as much trouble as it cures.

Potter is mocked by a faculty member for the idea that there is evil in the world from which even children need to learn to defend themselves by the actual practice of doing so rather than familiarity with theory.

You fail by default when you live so cautiously you never fail.

My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?' Dumbledore sighed, looking down into Snape's ferocious, anguished face. 'If you insist.

Poverty entails fear and stress and sometimes depression. It means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships.

He’s gone, Harry told himself. He’s gone. He had to keep thinking it as he washed and dressed, as though repetition would dull the shock of it. He’s gone and he’s not coming back. And that was the simple truth of it, Harry knew, because their protective enchantments meant that it would be impossible, once they vacated this spot, for Ron to find them again.