10 Life Lessons An Entire Generation Learned From Professor Albus Dumbledore

He’s the greatest wizard to ever live.

We all know Albus Dumbledore as the mentor to our beloved boy wizard, Harry Potter. Here’s some of the best quotes that dropped some serious knowledge not only on Harry, but on the entire Potter generation.

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

Every kid who’s ever been told to come back to the real world or that characters on a page aren’t real can relate to this. Deep down we know these aren’t real people, but we live in a world where anything is possible and where the things we imagine could really happen. Dumbledore taught us that that’s okay.

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

You could be the smartest person on the planet, but that doesn’t make a bit of difference unless you do something meaningful with that intelligence. Voldemort was extremely powerful and could’ve been a force for good, like Dumbledore, but he chose to be evil. Basically: you can be anything you want as long as you choose to work for it.

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

Out of every Dumbledore quote, this one means the most to me personally. We all have, or will, experience our fair share of pain and darkness. Dumbledore taught me, and us, that you can bring yourself out of that darkness with any little spark of hope you have. Darkness is just a state of being, it can be destroyed as quickly as it can be created.

4. “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love.”

Ah, the classic quote about love; it’s a huge theme in Harry Potter that love conquers all. This quote allows Harry to accept that all those he has loved and lost will be okay and that he should live with love and compassion always, especially for Voldemort who has never accepted any form of love into his life. Readers are hit with this knowledge nugget as well because we all have lost, or will lose, someone, but we loved them and vice versa so they are okay and so will we.

5. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.”

We’ve all gotten caught in the ‘dream-web’ at some point while trying to figure out our lives. Dumbledore reminds us that it’s all well and good to dream, but what about living and achieving those dreams? Dream, live, achieve.

6. “It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.”

We all have the power to decide what we want to be in life–no one can make that decision for us.

7. “We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”

The power of many is greater than the power of few, find where you belong and you’ll always have the power to do achieve greatness.

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

I think almost every person on the planet earth has a fear of death. Dumbledore is trying to teach us that it is nothing to be feared, it is something that we will never understand but that’s okay. Remember fear is all in the mind.

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

Who knew that foreign policy could be learned from Dumbledore?? Differences in culture, especially here in America, can be overlooked if we all would just read a little Harry Potter.

10. “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”

The written word is amazing, it can take us to different worlds or to different versions of our own. It can provide a place to escape to when needed, or a second home if only for the hours we reside in its pages. The written word is the most powerful force in the world, it can decide the fate of millions or just make life better for one little girl looking for an escape from her world.

So, thanks Dumbledore, for mentoring not only Harry but millions of young people across the world (and for being just an overall badass).