What Jo says about...
Wizards and Muggles

Please note: unless you see quotemarks, these are summaries, and not JKR's words themselves. Please see the linked article for the actual text.

• JKR: "it's indecent the amount of time I spend thinking up wizarding ways to subvert arrogant Muggles." [Read the exact quote from The Herald, 1998]
• JKR: "The wizards represent all that the true 'muggle' most fears: They are plainly outcasts and comfortable with being so. Nothing is more unnerving to the truly conventional than the unashamed misfit!" [Read the exact quote from Salon.com, 1999]
• The Muggle and Magical worlds will never be rejoined; muggles will be noticing more magical goings on now that Voldemort's back. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• There were several discarded opening chapters for PS/SS, one of which had a muggle betraying the Potters.[Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• To people like Lucius Malfoy, a Muggle-born is as bad as a Muggle, so Harry is considered Half-Blood because of his mother's parents. In effect, a Muggle Grandparent "pollutes" the blood. (Read the rest of JK's response here to see how this relates to the Nazi's attitude to Jews.) [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Most wizard children are home educated before Hogwarts because they cannot be trusted to keep their magical abilities hidden from muggle schoolmates. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Jo thinks that there are about 3,000 wizards in Britain, though she admits that being specific about numbers is not "how I think." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• JK intended to draw a parallel to World War II when she chose the date for Grindelwald’s death (1945). [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Muggle and wizarding wars “feed” each other. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Magic does not make Harry's world significantly better. The relationships he has in the magical world make his world better. "Magic in many ways complicates his life." [Read the whole quote from Time Magazine, 2005]
• Aunt Petunia has never performed magic, and will never be able to do so. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Jo is implying that Dumbledore had a hand in ending WWII when he defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald. [Read the whole quote from Owen Jones interview, 2005]
• Harry discovers that Muggle world problems take an even more extravagant form in the Wizarding World because everything is exacerbated by magic. "Human nature is human nature, whatever special powers and talents you have." [Read the whole quote from R&J, 2006]
• Muggles cannot brew potions because there is always a magical component, and at some point you would have to use a wand. [Read the whole quote from RCMH1, 2006]
• If a muggle picked up a wand something accidental and possibly quite violent would be likely to occur. The wand is a vessel for what lies inside a person. You need the magical ability to make it work properly. [Read the whole quote from RCMH1, 2006]