Books
Even though I was just a wee pre-teen when the Harry Potter craze caught on in the United States, I didn’t actually end up reading the entire Harry Potter series, cover-to-cover, until about a year ago. (I know, I know, Potterheads take your moment to gasp.) While I probably missed out on a whole lot of book chat around the monkey bars back in the day, I actually think I got MORE out of the novels by diving in during my late-20s than I would have back when you could still find Romper Room reruns on basic cable.
As it turns out, (IMO) the Harry Potter series is all about love: romantic love, platonic love, unrequited love, lifelong love, love of knowledge, activist love, radically-rebellious-world-changing love — the types of love that folks are willing to risk their lives and die for. (And there are tons of great Harry Potter quotes about love to prove it.) My young reader self — the one who regularly devoured teen novels about love triangles and girls wearing too much eyeliner who needed boys to save them from their feelings — probably wouldn’t have understood any of that back then.
Here are 15 lines about love from Harry Potter — perfect for your next Valentines Day card or protest poster alike.
“When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love."
— Horace Slughorn, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
"Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open."
— Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
"Blood was pounding in his ears. He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared; air rushed through his hair, and his robes whipped out behind him — and in a rush of fierce joy he realized he’d found something he could do without being taught — this was easy, this was wonderful."
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“...to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.”
— Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!” said Dumbledore loudly. “The only protection that can possibly work against the lure of power like Voldemort’s! In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart..."
— Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
"'The old argument,' he said softly. 'But nothing I have seen in the world has supported your pronouncements that love is more powerful than my kind of magic, Dumbledore.' 'Perhaps you have been looking in the wrong places,' suggested Dumbledore."
“There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.”
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
"The ones that love us never really leave us. You can always find them, in here."
— Sirius Black, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
“His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, his hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he’s really divine, the hero who conquered the Dark Lord.”
— Singing valentine, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
"'All’s fair in love and war,' said Ron brightly, 'and this is a bit of both.'"
— Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
"Ron was staring at Hermione as though suddenly seeing her in a whole new light. 'Hermione, Neville’s right — you are a girl…' 'Oh well spotted,' she said acidly."
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
"It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible … It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Remember that."
— Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
"Ron’s ears turned bright red and he became engrossed in a tuft of grass at his feet, which he prodded with his toe, 'he must’ve known I’d run out on you.' 'No,' Harry corrected him. 'He must’ve known you’d always want to come back.'"
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
"'You'll stay with me?' 'Until the very end,' said James."
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
"Dumbledore would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love in the world."
— Professor McGonagall, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
