J. K. Rowling (b. 1965)

Joanne Rowling, better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author, philanthropist, producer, and screenwriter. She is best known for writing Harry Potter, a seven-volume series about a young wizard. Published from 1997 to 2007, the fantasy novels are the best-selling book series in history, with over 600 million copies sold. They have been translated into 84 languages and have spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith.

Quotes

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

Failure
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.
You will never truly know yourself or the strength of your relationships until both have been tested by adversity.

Adversity
Personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications are not your life.

Happiness
Life is difficult and complicated and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

Life
Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and relevetory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

Imagination
Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to form of mental agoraphobia and that brings its own terrors. I think the willfully unimaginative see more monsters, they are often more afraid. What is more, those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude through our own apathy.

Apathy, Imagination
We touch other peoples lives simply by existing.
We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.

Imagination, Magic
If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.
It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
If you're holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time.

Fame
Never be ashamed! There's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth bothering with.
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

Life & Death