“The truth,” Dumbledore sighed. “It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.”
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Tags: beauty/beautiful care information secrecy secrets truth
It is interesting to consider what came into Albus Dumbledore's mind as he offered Harry this piece of wisdom. It is most likely that he anticipated Harry's question about why Voldemort initially came to attack him as a baby, and he hoped to give Harry an indication that there were many things he did not feel Harry was ready to process. However, there is plenty of room for speculation as to how Dumbledore drew this conclusion about truth. For example, he could be considering the lack of caution that Horace Slughorn employed when imparting information about Horcruxes to teenage Tom Riddle, and the disastrous consequences of that indiscretion. Additionally, it is within reason to think that he could be recalling his dealings with Gellert Grindelwald, with whom he very likely had conversations about "The Greater Good" in which the truth was discussed, debated, or misconstrued.
--AK