Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.

The line is widely circulated online under J. K. Rowling’s name, but it is not reliably traceable to her published novels, interviews, speeches, or other verifiable statements. It appears to be a modern rephrasing of an older aphorism about reading—often linked to the idea that a book reflects the reader’s own intelligence and character—rather than a documented Rowling quotation. Because the attribution is unstable and no primary source is consistently cited, the safest scholarly treatment is to regard the Rowling credit as unconfirmed and likely erroneous unless a specific, citable appearance can be produced.

The metaphor suggests that books do not magically confer wisdom; they “reflect” what the reader brings to them. A careless, incurious, or intellectually lazy reader will extract little, while an attentive, capable reader can find depth, insight, and pleasure. The saying also functions as a warning against treating reading as a mere badge of intelligence: the act of reading is not identical with understanding. In its sharper phrasing (“fool” versus “genius”), it emphasizes personal responsibility in interpretation and learning, implying that meaning is co-created by text and reader rather than delivered automatically by the page.