“‘It only put me in Gryffindor,’ said Harry in a defeated voice, ‘because I asked not to go in Slytherin. . . .’
‘Exactly,’ said Dumbledore, beaming once more. ‘Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.’” (Chamber of Secrets, ch. 18)
Really, there were so many hilarious quotes from this book that I have saved. This is the only real inspirational one that I have written down, although I'm sure there are more in the Chamber of Secrets, I just don't have them on me.
Anyway, this is a rather well known quote from this particular book. I feel bad for the Slytherins out there though. All those dark wizards/witches and Malfoy and other dark wizards that come from Slytherin really make Slytherin have a bad reputation. Although I'm sure Salazar Slytherin would have thought it a good reputation rather than bad. We don't really hear much about the nice Slytherins, I have friends that would be perfect in Slytherin ... but they're hardly evil. But in this quote Slytherin represents evil, I guess.
What I love about this quote is that it shows that we always have a choice, even though it seems that were destined to go a particular way, we can still go a different way if we'd rather. Harry Potter could have easily chosen to go into Slytherin, then become best friends with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, and then eventually be killed by Voldemort cause ... well ... that's what the prophecy dictates. I'm pretty sure Harry would still be hated by Snape though. However, all those choice would go completely against the very person that Harry Potter is.
He's wonderful at Quidditch, at DADA, and is incredibly lucky, but those abilities do not show who he really is. The choices he's made showed him to be loyal, brave, a risk taker, and extremely humble.
He has abilities that are quite similar to Voldemort's, but his choices are the opposite. They looks similar (well, when Voldemort was Tom), they share a connection, they were both orphans, and even their wands are brothers. However, Harry doesn't want to be special and recognized like Tom did, Harry was full of love while Tom chose to hate because he thought that would be stronger, Harry spared several people's lives, while Tom killed anyone. Tom was manipulative and Harry is very honest. The list goes on, of course.
It's wonderful to be good at things, to have the abilities to be special in something, but it's more important to make the correct decisions for yourself. Who cares what the Sorting Hat says? You are what you chose to be, not what a Sorting Hat says you are.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone
The last Harry Potter movie will be coming out soon... and as a true nerd that adores the series I will be the first to admit that I will cry my eyes out in the theater. I don't care who sees, because I freaking love Harry Potter. I've already warned my boyfriend that I'll be crying. I'm so glad that he's not embarrassed of his nerdy girlfriend especially after I told him that George Weasley is my fictional boyfriend ... even if he is holey.
So in memory of Harry Potter, this post will be quoting ... quite quotably ... one of the Harry Potter books. One quote for every book, I would promise that this project be done by the time the last movie comes out but ... I don't like breaking promises.
So here we go with the Sorcerer's Stone ... or the Philosopher's Stone if you prefer:
". . . After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.’” (ch. 17, Albus Dumbledore)
The Stone created so many selfish people, Nicholas Flamel and his wife, who died (in the books) at 665 and 658 respectively, and Voldemort, who also wanted to live forever and ensnare everyone under his evil powers. Yea, the Flamel's didn't try to kill anyone (the opposite actually) but they were still rather selfish. Why would anyone want to live forever? ... Well, at least that's what Christians are thinking but this isn't an argument about Heaven/Hell or anything like that. This is just a comment about how we seem to choose a lot of things that are really bad for us, but how do we figure out the correct things to choose? I guess that comes with maturity ... or maybe not considering how old the Flamels were. I guess we should just take a page out of Ablus Dumbledore's book and do things out of love, it saved Harry Potter didn't it?
“‘There are all kinds of courage,’ said Dumbledore, smiling. ‘It takes a great deal of bravery to standing up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.’” (Albus Dumbedore about Neville Longbottom, ch. 17)
I had to add this second quote because Neville Longbottom, although hesitant, always shows how is truly a Gryffindor even though sometimes you have to wonder if the Sorting Hat couldn't have made a better decision by choosing Hufflepuff instead. Really, these books were the first things to show me what real friendship is and as nerdy as this may be, the characters feel real to me, they're like my real friends. These books helped me to understand that if my friends aren't doing something they should be and they ask me my opinion, I'm going to tell them. And if they put me in a full body bind like Hermione did to Neville and disagree then they are perfectly at liberty to walk by me and do whatever they want.
I'm so glad that I learned this and I wish I could have learned it earlier cause I'm sure that some things could have been avoided if I had just stood up to my friends. I'm also really glad that my friends will stand up to me, it's stopped me from doing many stupid and unneeded things.
I think the best thing that can be taken from that scene is that Neville stood up to his friends, they disagreed,put him in a full body bind, continued on their way, and they stayed friends. They didn't have hard feelings, just differing opinions and that's okay.
So in memory of Harry Potter, this post will be quoting ... quite quotably ... one of the Harry Potter books. One quote for every book, I would promise that this project be done by the time the last movie comes out but ... I don't like breaking promises.
So here we go with the Sorcerer's Stone ... or the Philosopher's Stone if you prefer:
". . . After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.’” (ch. 17, Albus Dumbledore)
The Stone created so many selfish people, Nicholas Flamel and his wife, who died (in the books) at 665 and 658 respectively, and Voldemort, who also wanted to live forever and ensnare everyone under his evil powers. Yea, the Flamel's didn't try to kill anyone (the opposite actually) but they were still rather selfish. Why would anyone want to live forever? ... Well, at least that's what Christians are thinking but this isn't an argument about Heaven/Hell or anything like that. This is just a comment about how we seem to choose a lot of things that are really bad for us, but how do we figure out the correct things to choose? I guess that comes with maturity ... or maybe not considering how old the Flamels were. I guess we should just take a page out of Ablus Dumbledore's book and do things out of love, it saved Harry Potter didn't it?
“‘There are all kinds of courage,’ said Dumbledore, smiling. ‘It takes a great deal of bravery to standing up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.’” (Albus Dumbedore about Neville Longbottom, ch. 17)
I had to add this second quote because Neville Longbottom, although hesitant, always shows how is truly a Gryffindor even though sometimes you have to wonder if the Sorting Hat couldn't have made a better decision by choosing Hufflepuff instead. Really, these books were the first things to show me what real friendship is and as nerdy as this may be, the characters feel real to me, they're like my real friends. These books helped me to understand that if my friends aren't doing something they should be and they ask me my opinion, I'm going to tell them. And if they put me in a full body bind like Hermione did to Neville and disagree then they are perfectly at liberty to walk by me and do whatever they want.
I'm so glad that I learned this and I wish I could have learned it earlier cause I'm sure that some things could have been avoided if I had just stood up to my friends. I'm also really glad that my friends will stand up to me, it's stopped me from doing many stupid and unneeded things.
I think the best thing that can be taken from that scene is that Neville stood up to his friends, they disagreed,
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