J. K. Rowling

The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous.

I imagined being a famous writer would be like being like Jane Austen.

Failure means a stripping away of the inessential.

Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.

I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself. I never in my wildest dreams expected this popularity.

'Harry Potter' gave me back self respect. Harry gave me a job to do that I loved more than anything else.

I do get recognized, but I must say Edinburgh is a fantastic city to live if you're well-known. There is an innate respect for privacy in Edinburgh people, and I also think they're used to seeing me walking around, so I don't think I'm a very big deal.

You__e got to give the door something?___es,_ said Dumbledore. __lood, if I am not much mistak