All Quotes by Albus Dumbledore

When dreaming we enter a world, that's entirely our own.

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.

We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.

It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live.

By all means continue destroying my possessions, I daresay I have too many.

A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who've forgotten how to listen.

It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human.

After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.

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.

Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.

Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.

Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.

I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being - forgive me - rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger.

People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.

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.

I see a light in the kitchen. Let us not deprive Molly any longer of the chance to deplore how thin you are.

Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!

Curiosity is not a sin. But we should exercise caution with our curiosity.

It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.

This may bring her number of actual predictions to two... I should give her a raise.

...yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often. Best to say nothing at all, my dear man.

A true leader does what is right, no matter what others think.

You place too much importance... on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!

One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.

Harry, there is never a perfect answer in this messy, emotional world. Perfection is beyond the reach of humankind, beyond the reach of magic. In every shining moment of happiness is that drop of poison: the knowledge that pain will come again. Be honest to those you love, show your pain. To suffer is as human as to breathe.

Those that we love never truly leave us, Harry. There are things that death cannot touch.

Power was my weakness and my temptation.

Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.

Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.

"Ah, music"' he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here!"

Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.

You may, perhaps, wondered why I never chose you as a prefect? I must confess... that I rather thought... you had enough responsibility to be going on with.

It is my belief that the truth is generally preferable to lies.

Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living. And above all, all those who live without love.

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.

You ask me, of all people, how to protect a boy in terrible danger? We cannot protect the young from harm. Pain must and will come.

"My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you?" Dumbledore sighed, looking down into Snape's ferocious, anguished face. "If you insist..."

Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.

Your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness.

It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.

I know what you are known as. But to me, you will always be Tom Riddle. It is one of the irritating things about old teachers. I am afraid that they never quite forget their charges' youthful beginnings.

Sirius was a brave, clever, and energetic man, and such men are not usually content to sit at home in hiding while they believe others to be in danger.

Really, Hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time.

Regret is my constant companion. Do not let it become yours.

Do you know why I admire you, Newt? More, perhaps, than any man I know? You don’t seek power or popularity. You simply ask, is the thing right in itself? If it is, then I must do it, no matter the cost.

Snape: "I wish... I wish I were dead..."
Dumbledore: "And what use would that be to anyone?"

Dumbledore: "Voldemort had powers I will never have."
McGonagall: "Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."
Dumbledore: "It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madame Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."

"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed. "Above such brutality, are you?"
"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly.

My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I’m not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery.

Yes, Harry, blessed as I am with extraordinary brainpower, I understood everything you told me. I think you might even consider the possibility that I understood more than you did.

You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.

I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you.

Memory is everything. Without it we are blind. Without it we leave the fate of our world to chance.

No man or woman alive, magical or not, has ever escaped some form of injury, whether physical, mental, or emotional. To hurt is as human as to breathe.

Snape: "I am not such a coward."
Dumbledore: "No. You are a braver man by far than Igor Karkaroff. You know, I sometimes think we Sort too soon."

You know, at times, I forget how much you've grown. At times, I still se the small boy from the cupboard.

The world as we know it is coming undone. Things that seem unimaginable today will seem inevitable tomorrow. Should you agree to do what I ask, you'll have to trust me. Even when every instinct tell you not to.

The time is long gone when I could frighten you with a burning wardrobe and force you to make repayment for your crimes. But I wish I could, Tom.

Muggles are not lesser. Not disposable.

Everyone is scared of something.

Dark times lie ahead of us and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.

Just like your mother, you're unfailingly kind. A trait people never fail to undervalue, I'm afraid.

You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you.

Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men – and win, again! But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year. Lord Voldemort has returned, you have been chasing the wrong man for twelve months, and it is time you listened to sense!

Five years ago, then, 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.

Mysterious thing, time. Powerful, and when meddled with, dangerous.

Every day, every hour, this very minute, perhaps, dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle's walls. But in the end, their greatest weapon is you.

Oh, to be young, and to feel love's keen sting.

At Hogwarts, you'll be taught not only how to use magic, but how to control it.

If, by teatime, all of us are still alive, we should consider our efforts a success.

Dangerous times favor dangerous men.

You have something most men go their entire lives without; a heart that is full.

Your honesty is a gift, even at times a painful one.

The fact that everything didn't go precisely to plan was precisely the plan.

If you listen carefully enough, the past whispers to you.

You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.

I would never dream of assuming I know all Hogwarts' secrets.

Slughorn: "You've been a very long time. Upset stomach?"
Dumbledore: "No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines, I do love knitting patterns."

It was important, Dumbledore said, to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then could evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated.

From this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together through the murky marshes of memory into thickets of wildest guesswork.

For future reference, Harry, it is raspberry... although of course, if I were a Death Eater, I would have been sure to research my own jam preferences before impersonating myself.

"I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you."

I tell you now - take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers for Magic we have ever known. Fail to act - and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside, and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!

"He accused me of being Dumbledore's man through and through."
"How very rude of him."
"I told him I was."
Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. Fawkes the phoenix let out a low, soft, musical cry. To Harry's intense embarrassment, he suddenly realized that Dumbledore's bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knee. When Dumbledore spoke, however, his voice was quite steady.
"I am very touched, Harry."

Killing is not so easy as the innocent believe.

Ah, Harry, how often this happens, even between the best of friends! Each of us believes that what he has to say is much more important than anything the other might have to contribute!

Skeeter: "I hope you saw my piece over the summer about the International Confederation of Wizards' Conference?"
Dumbledore: "Enchantingly nasty. I particularly enjoyed your description of me as an obsolete dingbat."

Which only goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words.

Some wounds run too deep for the healing.

"You do care," said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it."

Never too late to free yourself. Confession is a relief, I'm told. A great weight lifted.

Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs.

There's a story in my family that a phoenix will come to any Dumbledore in desperate need.

Snape: "Mediocre, arrogant as his father, a determined rule-breaker, delighted to find himself famous, attention-seeking and impertinent -"
Dumbledore: "You see what you expect to see, Severus. Other teachers report that the boy is modest, likeable and reasonably talented. Personally, I find him an engaging child."

Albus Dumbledore: "Good evening, Amycus. And you've brought Alecto too… charming…"
Alecto Carrow: "Think your little jokes'll help you on your deathbed then?"
Albus Dumbledore: "Jokes? No, no, these are manners. Is that you, Fenrir?"
Fenrir Greyback: "That's right. Pleased to see me, Dumbledore?"
Albus Dumbledore: "No, I cannot say that I am."

"I am not joking, Mr Weasley," he said, "though, now you mention it, I did head an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all go into a bar -"
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.
"Er - but maybe this is not the time..."

Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground.

Prongs rode again last night... You know, Harry, in a way, you did see your father last night... You found him inside yourself.

No Dementor will cross the threshold of this castle while I am Headmaster.

Snape: "And why may I not have the same information?"
Dumbledore: "I prefer not to put all of my secrets in one basket, particularly not a basket that spends so much time dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort."

Death is coming for me as surely as the Chudley Cannons will finish bottom of this year's league.

Harry Potter: "Did you know, sir? Then...?"
Albus Dumbledore: "Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous Dark wizard of all-time? No."

Grindelwald. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution. Oh, I had a few scruples. I assuaged my conscience with empty words. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in benefits for wizards. Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes.

Torquil Travers: "You and Grindelwald were as close as brothers."
Albus Dumbledore: "Oh, we were closer than brothers."

Snape: "He is his father over again -"
Dumbledore: "In looks, perhaps, but his deepest nature is much more like his mother's."

Don't count your owls before they are delivered.

Clever as I am, I remain just as big a fool as anyone else.

They say he showed remorse in later years, alone in his cell at Nurmengard. I hope that is true. I would like to think that he did feel the horror and shame of what he had done. Perhaps that lie to Voldemort was his attempt to make amends... to prevent Voldemort from taking the Hallow...

Death comes for us all in the end.

Oh, if you'd ever had the pleasure to teach him, you'd know Newt is not a great follower of orders.

My response prompted several further letters from Mr. Malfoy, but as they consisted mainly of opprobrious remarks on my sanity, parentage, and hygiene, their relevance to this commentary is remote. This exchange marked the beginning of Mr. Malfoy's long campaign to have me removed from my post as headmaster of Hogwarts, and of mine to have him removed from his position as Lord Voldemort's Favourite Death Eater.

What must strike any intelligent witch or wizard on studying the so-called history of the Elder Wand is that every man who claims to have owned it has insisted that it is "unbeatable," when the known facts of its passage through many owners' hands demonstrate that has it not only been beaten hundreds of times, but that it also attracts trouble as Grumble the Grubby Goat attracted flies.

The persecution of witches and wizards was gathering pace all over Europe in the early fifteenth century. Many in the magical community felt, and with good reason, that offering to cast a spell on the Muggle-next-door's sickly pig was tantamount to volunteering to fetch the firewood for one's own funeral pyre.

"Nothing is a surer sign of weak magic than a weakness for non-magical company."
This prejudice eventually died out in the face of overwhelming evidence that some of the world's most brilliant wizards were, to use the common phrase, "Muggle-lovers".

It soon became the tale I requested more often than any other at bedtime. This frequently led to arguments with my younger brother, Aberforth, whose favourite story was "Grumble the Grubby Goat".

"It is a long time since my last visit," said Dumbledore, peering down his crooked nose at Uncle Vernon. "I must say, your agapanthus are flourishing."

Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on.

Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat, Harry.

Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure!

What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally the whole school knows.

Naturally, you would not care how many times you heard from a witness, if the alternative was a serious miscarriage of justice.