It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, ch. 18 (1998)
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- Published in 1998, in the closing chapter of the second novel.
- Why
- Harry has learned he shares abilities with the villain and is frightened of what that implies about him.
What it means
Dumbledore's answer separates two things a person can be judged by. Capacity arrives unchosen. Use of it does not.
The consolation is conditional and Rowling keeps it that way. Harry is not told his abilities are harmless, only that they are not the verdict.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
Read the source
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1998
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