“‘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.
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