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Ginny Weasley
Hogwarts’s new Potions professor, whom Dumbledore recruits at the beginning of the novel. While he seems to be a kindly and gregarious old man, Slughorn is also cowardly, more concerned with his own safety and comfort than anything else, and dominated by his obsession with influence and fame. Ignoring those whom he considers less worthy, he chooses favorite students based on their likelihood to achieve success later in life; this tendency causes him to become close to the young Voldemort and even give him fatal information about Horcruxes. However, he also stops short of joining the Death Eaters and helps Harry’s quest by revealing a critical memory about Voldemort’s time at Hogwarts. Ultimately, Slughorn’s ambiguous character shows Harry how hard it is to categorize people simply as good or evil.
Horace Slughorn Quotes in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince quotes below are all either spoken by Horace Slughorn or refer to Horace Slughorn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter Four: Horace Slughorn
Quotes
[Harry] could not quite keep a note of derision out of his voice; it was hard to sympathize with Slughorn’s cosseted existence when he remembered Sirius, crouching in a cave and living on rats. “Most of the teachers aren’t in it, and none of them has ever been killed – well, unless you count Quirrell, and he got what he deserved seeing as he was working with Voldemort.”
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He used to handpick favorites at Hogwarts, sometimes for their ambition or their brains, sometimes for their charm or their talent, and he had an uncanny knack for choosing those who would go on to become outstanding in their various fields. Horace formed a kind of club of his favorites with himself at the center, making introductions, forging useful contacts between members, and always reaping some kind of benefit in return…
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Chapter Twenty-Two: After the Burial
Quotes
“I am not proud…” he whispered through his fingers. “I am ashamed of what – of what that memory shows…I think I may have done great damage that day…”
“You’d cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory,” said Harry. “It would be a very brave and noble thing to do.”
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Horace Slughorn Quotes in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince quotes below are all either spoken by Horace Slughorn or refer to Horace Slughorn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter Four: Horace Slughorn
Quotes
[Harry] could not quite keep a note of derision out of his voice; it was hard to sympathize with Slughorn’s cosseted existence when he remembered Sirius, crouching in a cave and living on rats. “Most of the teachers aren’t in it, and none of them has ever been killed – well, unless you count Quirrell, and he got what he deserved seeing as he was working with Voldemort.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He used to handpick favorites at Hogwarts, sometimes for their ambition or their brains, sometimes for their charm or their talent, and he had an uncanny knack for choosing those who would go on to become outstanding in their various fields. Horace formed a kind of club of his favorites with himself at the center, making introductions, forging useful contacts between members, and always reaping some kind of benefit in return…
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Two: After the Burial
Quotes
“I am not proud…” he whispered through his fingers. “I am ashamed of what – of what that memory shows…I think I may have done great damage that day…”
“You’d cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory,” said Harry. “It would be a very brave and noble thing to do.”
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
