Quote of the Day: J. K. Rowling

I'm going to preface this post by saying I have always been and forever will be J. K. Rowling's Number One Fan. I picked up the first Harry Potter book in first grade, inhaled it, and then spent all of second and third grade completing what was then published of the series. And when the sixth and seventh novels were published, I pre-ordered them and read them both within twenty-four hours of them falling into my hands. I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I didn't come up for air. I just drowned in the world she had created.

For these reasons and much more, Rowling has been a huge influence and inspiration for a mere literary mortal such as myself. So naturally, many of her words have plucked at my heartstrings and played games with my mind. But this particular quote of hers spoke loudly to me:

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

Everyone and their mother has heard a quote or two about how failure is unavoidable and about how failures can be an opportunity to start anew. But none of these other quotes really computed in my head. I think the reason this quote has wormed its way into my mind is because all the other quotes just go along the lines of "failure is normal, pick yourself up off the ground and start again". But Rowling goes even farther to say that if failure is not happening in your life because you are doing everything in your power to avoid such a fate, you are failing. She makes failure seem almost... beautiful. And for someone like me, who is so scared of breaking through my comfort zone, who is so afraid of rejection, who trembles at the very thought of making myself look stupid because I decided to reach for something a little higher than I usually do... that gives me a tremendous hope.

So I guess what Rowling means to say is... failure to fail is failure.

 It's a beautiful paradox, don't you think?

~ Lacey :)