"However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension"
About this Quote
The specific intent is double-edged. Rowling is acknowledging the social script that tells working-class families to distrust risk, while also setting up the narrative tension that her later success will explode. It’s a carefully chosen register: mortgages and pensions are symbols of adulthood in Britain, shorthand for respectability, the invisible finish line you’re supposed to cross to prove you weren’t foolish.
Subtextually, this is about class mobility and the emotional bargain it demands. Imagination is cast as a liability because it can’t be audited, credentialed, or reliably monetized. That’s what makes the sentence sting: it captures how aspiration gets managed at home, not through cruelty but through protective skepticism. Coming from Rowling, it also reads as a quiet rebuke of the myth that talent naturally finds its way. For a long time, the people closest to you may interpret your gift as a hobby, because they’ve been trained to fear the cost of believing otherwise.
Quote Details
| Topic | Family |
|---|---|
| Source | Speech: "The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination" (Harvard Commencement address), J. K. Rowling, 5 June 2008; transcript (Harvard Gazette). |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Rowling, J. K. (2026, January 17). However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/however-my-parents-both-of-whom-came-from-31643/
Chicago Style
Rowling, J. K. "However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/however-my-parents-both-of-whom-came-from-31643/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/however-my-parents-both-of-whom-came-from-31643/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
