Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Quotes

The 9 most famous lines from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), each with its speaker and the scene it belongs to. These are the quotes readers underline, copy into essays and put on walls - gathered in one place, explained in a line.

• “Neither can live while the other survives.”

  - Dumbledore. Chapter 5, p. 104 - rereading the prophecy with Harry in his office; the sentence the last two books are built to fulfil.

• “You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son.”

  - Dumbledore. Chapter 3, p. 55 - at Spinner's End. The calmest frightening sentence in the book, aimed at Snape in front of Bellatrix and Narcissa.

• “I am Dumbledore's man through and through.”

  - Harry Potter. Chapter 17, p. 357 - to the Minister for Magic, in the hospital wing, after the year that should have broken him.

• “I am not worried, Harry. I am with you.”

  - Dumbledore. Chapter 26, p. 578 - the last words before the cave. The series' most quoted act of trust, spoken on the worst night of both their lives.

• “You are protected, in short, by your ability to love.”

  - Dumbledore. Chapter 23, p. 509 - explaining the power the Dark Lord knows not; the answer to the entire series' central question, stated plainly.

• “You are determined to hate him, Harry.”

  - Lupin. Chapter 16, p. 333 - on Snape, and the most ironic sentence in the book given where it lands by July.

• “Anyone we know dead?”

  - Ron Weasley. Chapter 11, p. 221 - asked around a mouthful of food; the moment the war becomes so routine that the boys' shorthand for it is two words.

• “Come over to the right side, Draco... you are not a killer...”

  - Dumbledore. Chapter 27, p. 592 - on the tower, wandless, offering the way out until the last second. The offer that hangs over the whole final book.

• “...one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.”

  - Narration (Harry). Chapter 30, p. 652 - the funeral chapter's close, and the final sentence of Hogwarts in Harry's life.

Why these lines survive

J.K. Rowling’s sentences earn their fame by compression: each line carries the whole book’s argument in a form you can carry in your pocket. Read in order, the 9 quotes above also sketch the novel’s shape - the world it opens, the pressure it applies, the note it ends on. If you meet them before the book, nothing is spoiled beyond mood; if you meet them after, each one lands like a place you have been.

Quote collectors: pair this page with the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince quiz to see which lines actually stuck, the book club questions when you want to argue about them, or how long the reread takes - about 11 hours and 50 minutes at an average pace. If the lines did their job and you want more of the same nerve, the books like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince list is next.

Want the whole shelf’s lines? Our J.K. Rowling books in order guide lists every book.

How to use a quotes page

Three honest uses. Before reading: skim the first two quotes to taste the prose - if the voice does not pull you, the book will not either. During: mark which quote you actually reach in the text, because the distance between famous line and lived scene is where a book keeps its secrets. After: pick the one quote you would defend at dinner and check it against the discussion questions - a quote you can argue about is a quote you understood. What a quotes page is not for is replacing the book; five lines of J.K. Rowling are an invitation, not a summary.

More quote collections

The Odyssey quotes, Moby-Dick quotes, Don Quixote quotes, Alice in Wonderland quotes - or browse quotes from all 133 classics. Then see which of them stuck on the original book quiz.

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