Albus Dumbledore - The wizard's 82 best Quotes

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!

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.

Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.

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.

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.

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.

In looks, perhaps, but his deepest nature is much more like his mother's.

Don't count your owls before they are delivered.

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...

"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."

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!

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