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Quotes by and about Albus Dumbledore

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 From Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

To Minerva McGonagall: “It’s lucky it’s dark. I haven’t blushed so much since Madame Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs.” (PS1)

To Minerva McGonagall: “Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won’t even remember! Can’t you see how much better off he’ll be, growing up away from all that until he’s ready to take it?” (PS1)

To Minerva McGonagall: “I would trust Hagrid with my life.” (PS1)

Hogwarts welcome speech: “Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak.” (PS7)

To Harry: “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.” (PS12)

“I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.” Harry stared. “One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a pair. People will insist on giving me books.” (PS12)

“What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrel is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows.” (PS17)

“After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” (PS17)

“Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” (PS17)

“The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” (PS17)

“Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign … to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. (…) It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.” (PS17)

From Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Dobby: “Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, sir. Dobby has heard Dumbledore’s powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But sir” — Dobby’s voice dropped to an urgent whisper — “there are powers Dumbledore doesn’t … powers no decent wizard …” (CS2)

“It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” (CS18)

From Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Lupin: “But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn’t come to school …” (PA18)

“What we need,” said Dumbledore slowly, and his light blue eyes moved from Harry to Hermione, “is more time.” (PA21)

“Hasn’t your experience with the Time-Turner taught you anything, Harry? The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business in deed …. Professor Trelawney, bless her, is living proof of that….You did a very noble thing, in saving Pettigrew’s life.” (PA22)

To Harry: “You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us? You think we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night.” (PA22)

From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Dumbledore looked very intensely at Harry for a moment, and then said, “I have a theory, no more than that … It is my belief that your scar hurts both when Lord Voldemort is near you, and when he is feeling a particularly strong surge of hatred.”
“But … why?”
“Because you and he are connected by the curse that failed,” said Dumbledore. “That is no ordinary scar.” (GF30)

“What made you think he’d really stopped supporting Voldemort, Professor?”
Dumbledore held Harry’s gaze for a few seconds, and then said, “That, Harry, is a matter between Professor Snape and myself.” (GF30)

At that moment, Harry fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared. The look upon Dumbledore’s face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye Moody was more terrible than Harry could have ever imagined. There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore’s face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat. (GF35)

When Harry told of Wormtail piercing his arm with the dagger, however, Sirius let out a vehement exclamation and Dumbledore stood up so quickly that Harry started. Dumbledore walked around the desk and told Harry to stretch out his arm. Harry showed them both the place where his robes were torn and the cut beneath them.
“He said my blood would make him stronger than if he’d used someone else’s,” Harry told Dumbledore. “He said the protection my — my mother left in me — he’d have it too. And he was right — he could touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face.”
For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore’s eyes. (GF36)

“I will say it again,” said Dumbledore as the phoenix rose into the air and resettled itself upon the perch beside the door. “You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you tonight, Harry. You have shown bravery equal to those who died fighting Voldemort at the height of his powers. You have shouldered a grown wizard’s burden and found yourself equal to it (….)” (GF36)

To Cornelius Fudge: “You are blinded,” said Dumbledore, his voice rising now, the aura of power around him palpable, his eyes blazing once more, “by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow up to be!” (GF36)

“If your determination to shut your eyes will carry you as far as this, Cornelius,” said Dumbledore, “we have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit. And I — I shall act as I see fit.” (GF 709)

Hagrid: “Great man, Dumbledore. ‘S long as we’ve got him, I’m not too worried.” (GF37)

End of School feast: “The end,” said Dumbledore, looking around at then all, “of another year.”
He paused, and is eyes fell upon the Hufflepuff table….
(….)
“There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight,” said Dumbledore, “but first I must acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here,” he gestured toward the Huffelpuffs, “enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise you glasses, to Cedric Diggory.”
(…)
“Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Huffelpuff house. He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not. I think you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about.”
Harry raised his head and stared at Dumbledore.
“Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort.”
A panicked whisper swept the Great Hall. People were staring at Dumbledore in disbelief, in horror. He looked perfectly calm as he watched them mutter themselves into silence.
“The Ministry of Magic,” Dumbledore continued, “does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so – either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory.”
(snipped the bit about being thankful to Harry)
“Every guest in this Hall,” said Dumbledore, and his eyes lingered upon the Durmstrang students, “will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again — in the light of Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.
“It is my belief — and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken — that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder. A week ago, a student was taken from our midst.
“Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory.” (GF37)

From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

An awful voice filled the kitchen, echoing in the confined space, issuing from the burning letter on the table.
“REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA.”
Aunt Petunia looked as though she might faint. (OP2)

Dumbledore now swooped down upon one of the fragile silver instruments whose function Harry had never known, carried it over to his desk, sat down facing them again, and tapped it gently with the tip of his wand.
The instrument tinkled into life at once with rhythmic clinking noises. Tiny puffs of pale green smoke issued from the miniscule silver tube at the top. Dumbledore watched the smoke closely, his brow furrowed, and after a few seconds, the tiny puffs became a steady stream of smoke that thickened and coiled in the air…. A serpent’s head grew out of the end of it, opening its mouth wide. (…)
“Naturally, naturally,” murmured Dumbledore apparently to himself, still observing the stream of smoke without the slightest sign of surprise. “But in essence divided?”
Harry could make neither head nor tail of this question. The smoke serpent, however, split itself instantly into two snakes, both coiling and undulating in the dark air. With a look of grim satisfaction Dumbledore gave the instrument another gentle tap with his wand. (OP22)

The oak doors had swung open. Students beside them scuttled out of the way as Dumbledore appeared in the entrance. What he had been doing out in the grounds Harry could not imagine, but there was something impressive about the sight of him framed in the doorway against an oddly misty night. (OP26)

“Dumbledore’s army, Cornelius,” said Dumbledore, still smiling as he waved the list of names before Fudge’s face. “Not Potter’s Army, Dumbledore’s Army.”
“But — but –”
Understanding blazed suddenly in Fudge’s face. He took a horrified step backward, yelped, and jumped out of the fire again.
“You?” he whispered…. (OP27)

Cornelius Fudge: “You will now be escorted back to the Ministry, where you will be formally charged, then sent to Azkaban to wait trial!”
“Ah” said Dumbledore gently, “yes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag.”
“Snag?” said Fudge, his voice still vibrating with joy. “I see no snag Dumbledore!”
“Well,” said Dumbledore apologetically, “I’m afraid I do.”
“Oh really?”
“Well – it’s just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am going to – what is the phrase – ‘Come quietly.’ I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course – but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing.” (OP27)

“Where will you go, Dumbledore?” whispered Professor McGonagall, “Grimmauld Place?”
“Oh, no,” said Dumbledore with a grim smile. “I am not leaving to go into hiding. Fudge will soon wish he’d never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you….” (OP27)

“As (the door) swung closed behind them, Harry heard Phineas Nigellus’ voice. “You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on may counts … but you cannot deny he’s got style….” (OP27)

Dumbledore sped down the steps past Neville and Harry, who had no more thought of leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realized he was there. There were yells; one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore’s spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line — (OP35)

Battle of the Dept. of Mysteries: “It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom,” said Dumbledore calmly. “The Aurors are on their way –” (OP36)

Voldemort: “You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?” called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. “Above such brutality, are you?”
“We both know there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom.” Dumbledore said calmly. “Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit – ”
“There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!” snarled Voldemort.
“You are quite wrong,” said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless. He wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless guard kept shunting him backward toward the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out from behind it. “Indeed your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness –” (OP36)

Harry: “Let me out,” he said. He was shaking from head to foot.
“No,” said Dumbledore simply.
For a few seconds they stared at each other.
“Let me out,” Harry said again.
“No,” Dumbledore repeated.
“If you don’t — if you keep me in here — if you don’t let me –”
“By all means continue destroying my possessions,” said Dumbledore serenely. “I daresay I have too many.” (OP37)

To Harry: “It is time,” he said, “for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything. I ask only a little patience. You will have your chance to rage at me – to do whatever you like – when I have finished. I will not stop you.” (OP37)

“But I knew too where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated – to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother’s blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative.”
“She doesn’t love me,” said Harry at once. “She doesn’t give a damn –”
“But she took you,” Dumbledore cut across him. “She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother’s sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you.”
“I still don’t –”
“While you can still call home the place where your mother’s blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years.” (OP37)

“Five years ago, then,” continued Dumbledore, as though he had not paused in his story, “you arrived at Hogwarts, neither as happy nor as well-nourished as I would have liked, perhaps, yet alive and healthy. You were not a pampered little prince, but as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances.” (OP37)

“I cared about you too much,” said Dumbledore simply. “I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act.”
“Is there a defense? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have — and I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined — not to want to save you more pain than you had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and well, and happy? I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands.” (OP37)

“Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child because of a prophecy made shortly before your birth. He knew the prophecy had been made, though he did not know its full contents. He set out to kill you when you were still a baby, believing he was fulfilling the terms of the prophecy. He discovered, to his cost, that he was mistaken, when the curse intended to kill you backfired. And so since his return to his body, and particularly since your extraordinary escape from him last year, he has been determined to hear that prophecy in its entirety. This is the weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return: the knowledge of how to destroy you.” (OP37)

“He chose the boy he thought most likely to be a danger to him,” said Dumbledore. “And notice this, Harry. He chose, not the pureblood (which according to his creed, is the only kind of wizard worth being or knowing), but the half-blood like himself. He saw himself in you before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar, he did not kill you, as he intended, but gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, but four times so far — something that neither your parents, nor Neville’s parents, ever achieved.” (OP37)

“There is a room in the Department of Mysteries,” interrupted Dumbledore, “that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.”
Harry closed his eyes. If he had not gone to save Sirius, Sirius would not have died…. More to stave off the moment when he would have to think of Sirius again, Harry asked, without caring much about the answer, “The end of the prophecy … it was something about … ‘neither one can live…'”
“‘…while the other survives,'” said Dumbledore.
“So,” said Harry, dredging up the words from what he felt like a deep well of despair inside him, “so does that mean that … that one of us has got to kill the other one … in the end?”
“Yes,” said Dumbledore. (OP37)

From Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.” (HBP3)

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