Gary Paulsen Quotes & Sayings

She was brilliant and joyous and she believed- probably correctly- that libraries contain the answers to all things, to everything, and that if you can't find the information you seek in the library, then such information probably doesn't exist in this or any parallel universe now or ever to be known. She was thoughtful and kind and she always believed the best of everybody. She was, above all else, a master librarian and she knew where to find any book on any subject in the shortest possible time.
And she was wonderfully unhinged. — Gary Paulsen

I sail, run dogs, ride horses, play professional poker and tell stories about the stuff I've been through. And I'm still a romantic; I still want Bambi to make it out of the fire. — Gary Paulsen

It was as though I had been dying of thirst and the librarian had handed me a five gallon bucket of water. I drank and drank. The only reason I am here and not in prison is because of that woman. I was a loser, but she showed me the power of reading. — Gary Paulsen

And doing what is good for you is always the worst thing. Even if it works out all right in the end, it is the worst thing when it first happens - just the way things that seem good for you can turn out bad, bad as dirt. — Gary Paulsen

We don't like to think of ourselves as prey - it is a lessening thought - but the truth is that in our arrogance and so-called knowledge we forget that we are not unique. We are part of nature as much as other animals, and some animals - sharks, fever-bearing mosquitoes, wolves and bear, to name but a few - perceive us as a food source, a meat supply, and simply did not get the memo about how humans are superior. It can be shocking, humbling, painful, very edifying and sometimes downright fatal to run into such an animal. — Gary Paulsen

We make a mistake in thinking we own pets - the animals open their lives up and make us a part of them. — Gary Paulsen

This is the final book about Brian — Gary Paulsen

Then we knew he was lying. — Gary Paulsen

He was out of food, but he could look tomorrow and he could build a signal fire tomorrow and get more wood tomorrow . . . The — Gary Paulsen

about four inches down, he suddenly came into a small chamber in the cool-damp sand and there lay eggs, many eggs, almost perfectly round eggs the size of table tennis balls, and he laughed then because he knew. It had been a turtle. — Gary Paulsen

But I'm your brother." Daniel sounded genuinely wounded. "You," she announced, "are a turd in the punch bowl of life. — Gary Paulsen

He had forgotten the most important thing about living in the wilderness, the one thing he'd thought he would never forget-expect the unexpected. What you didn't think would get you, would get you. Plan on the worst and be happy when it didn't come. — Gary Paulsen

It was a strange feeling, holding the rifle. It somehow removed him from everything around him. Without the rifle he had to fit in, to be part of it all, to understand it and use it - the woods, all of it. With the rifle, suddenly, he didn't have to know, did not have to be afraid or understand. He didn't have to get close to a foolbird to kill it - didn't have to know how it would stand if he didn't look at it and moved off to the side.
The rifle changed him, the minute he picked it up, and he wasn't sure he liked the change much. — Gary Paulsen

The vast country is still there, but it has somehow been altered by intrusions, "peopled" to death.
It is all gone, all changed, all tamed and pacified and cleaned and boiled and sanitized and made healthy and politically correct. — Gary Paulsen

The mosquitoes. Tearing at him, clouds of them, the awful, ripping, thick masses of the small monsters trying to bleed him dry. — Gary Paulsen

That's all it took to solve problems - just sense. — Gary Paulsen

Patience, he thought. So much of this was patience - waiting, and thinking and doing things right. So much of all this, so much of all living was patience and thinking. — Gary Paulsen

Things seemed to go back and forth between reality and imagination
except that it was all reality. — Gary Paulsen

I don't have a favorite author; I have favorite books. 'Moby Dick' is a favorite book, but Melville was a drunk who beat his wife. 'Moveable Feast' by Hemingway, but I would not like him personally. He was a stupid macho person who believed in shooting animals for fun, but that book was incredible! — Gary Paulsen

You're never the same after you run the Iditarod, and I still lust to go out and run with dogs, even though I know that I shouldn't. But I'd give just about anything to be able to do it again. To see the horizon again from the back of a dog team would be wonderful. — Gary Paulsen

To know things, for us to know things, is bad for them. We get to wanting and when we get to wanting it's bad for them. They thinks we want what they got ... That's why they don't want us reading. — Gary Paulsen

I ran the Iditarod twice. I finished once. I came in 42nd or 43rd place out of 70 plus teams the first time, and I scratched 80 miles from Nome the second time. You can read about my experience in the race in my books 'Woodsong' and 'Winterdance.' — Gary Paulsen

I am happiest in the brush and by myself - whether that's the woods of northern Minnesota or the wilds of Alaska behind a dogteam, picking through the foothills of the mountains by my ranch in New Mexico on horseback, or on the ship of my sailboat on the Pacific - so I guess it made sense to me that both Brian and Samuel would find their challenges and adventures, if that's what you call them, in the woods. — Gary Paulsen

Adults are locked into car payments and divorces and work. They haven't got time to think fresh. — Gary Paulsen

I read like a wolf eats. I read myself to sleep every night. — Gary Paulsen

I spent uncounted hours sitting at the bow looking at the water and the sky, studying each wave, different from the last, seeing how it caught the light, the air, the wind; watching patterns, the sweep of it all, and letting it take me.
The sea. — Gary Paulsen

My parents were brutal to each other, so I slept in the basement by an old coal-fired furnace. I became a street kid. Occasionally, I'd live with aunts or uncles, then I'd run away to live in the woods, trapping and hunting game to survive. The wilderness pulled at me; still does. — Gary Paulsen

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen — Gary Paulsen

Brian looked back and for a moment felt afraid because the wolf was so ... so right. He knew Brian, knew him and owned him and chose not to do anything to him. But the fear moved then, moved away,and Brian knew the wolf for what it was - another part of the woods, another part of all of it. — Gary Paulsen

I ran from the barn out through the herd to make certain and saw that the coyote was really dead, as was the sheep, but I ran smack into what makes border collies the incredible beings that they are. Louise grabbed at the coyote's neck, growling, and having made certain that it was dead, tried to bring the sheep back to life. She pulled at the ewe, trying to lift her to her feet, nudged at her ribs in a kind of crude CPR, — Gary Paulsen

If you look at it from the right point of view, lying is just good manners. — Gary Paulsen

But the beauty of the woods, the incredible joy of it is too alluring to be ignored, and I could not stand to be away from it
indeed, still can't
and so I ran dogs simply to run dogs; to be in and part of the forest, the woods — Gary Paulsen

I can't rightly say where deciding to write about the American Revolution came from; I had bits and pieces of information about the war and about the country at that time that I'd collected over the years and, of course, I'm comfortable in the woods, so, finally, it just all feel into place. — Gary Paulsen

He had learned this: Nothing that lived, nothing that walked or crawled or flew or swam or slithered or oozed - nothing, not one thing on God's earth wanted to die. No matter what people thought or said about chickens or fish or cattle - they all wanted to live. — Gary Paulsen

The book is that is the good one is Woodsong and we are trying to finish it. — Gary Paulsen

He widened the hole with his finger and looked inside. — Gary Paulsen

Years ago, when I was writing westerns, other writers who were friends of mine wanted me to collaborate with them. And it just didn't work. — Gary Paulsen

Running with dogs is like dancing with winter — Gary Paulsen

You never beat the game...You go in, take what you need, get out. Never stay too long and never, never try to whip the game. Stay there too long and they figure you out, start chewing at the corners on you, know your betting. Then maybe two, three of them get together and whipsaw you. — Gary Paulsen

He had read somewhere that wolves could eat up to twenty pounds of meat in a single meal and he thought the dog was coming close. She ... just ... kept ... eating. — Gary Paulsen

While now and then you hear somebody talking about how ". . . beautiful and elegant the predator-prey relationship is, how natural and proper the death of the prey is," it is usually so much misunderstood balderdash by people who have not witnessed it very many times, or worse, by people who have witnessed only highly edited versions on film. — Gary Paulsen

It must have been a snapper — Gary Paulsen

Of course, the sea has tried to kill me on several occasions, has timed itself to coincide with my stupidity and put an end to me. Here in this beautiful lagoon, with time to think of things, and with serenity, some of the madness comes back to me now as I attempt the death-defying feat of eating a second Oreo with my tea. — Gary Paulsen

You can take the man out of the woods, but you can't take the woods out of the man. — Gary Paulsen

I have a pickup truck. And I prefer to be with dogs or on my sailboat than in a car - actually, more than any other place on Earth. — Gary Paulsen

Humans are the big thing that cause damage in life - in war or whatever - and if I can get away from that and into a wilderness situation, I'm OK. You can more or less live on your own merit. — Gary Paulsen

And the last thought he had that morning as he closed his eyes was: I hope the tornado hit the moose. — Gary Paulsen

Because every day in my journal I write down the best thing that's happened to me. And today it's you. When
When Johanna said that, I felt light, warm in that spot just above my stomach where it usually feels clenched and tight. — Gary Paulsen

The maximum expression of running dogs is the Iditarod. You enter a state of primitive exaltation, and you never return. You're never normal again. — Gary Paulsen

Initially, he worried that he might be going crazy. But then he decided if you felt you were crazy you weren't really crazy because he had heard somewhere that crazy people didn't know they were insane. — Gary Paulsen

The essence of war is insanity. Destruction, death, women widowed, children orphaned, lands plundered, property destroyed, lives decimated - it's all bad. — Gary Paulsen

You want to stay hungry...to learn. You get full, you get sleepy, lazy; you get lazy, you don't learn. — Gary Paulsen

Books make me feel safe. Books make me feel normal. — Gary Paulsen

It was, all in all, a grand example of interspecies lack of cooperation and the further illustration that might makes right. I stayed in the rest area, in my car, for another half an hour, until everything had settled down, and saw who emerged as the victor. The bees kept the water fountain. — Gary Paulsen

moose was a moose. There — Gary Paulsen

Listen to me, he thought. If I were talking out loud, I'd be whining. Derek gets hit and I act like I'm the one getting messed up. It — Gary Paulsen

This is going to be murder," Fransic whispered to Mr. Trimes. "Pure murder."
"I'm glad to see your confidence returning, Mr. Tucket. Just a few minutes ago you were ready to give up. Now you're talking about killing him."
"I meant it the other way."
"Oh. — Gary Paulsen

She was beautiful in a way that only wild things can be beautiful. — Gary Paulsen

Maybe it was always that way, discoveries happened because they needed to happen. — Gary Paulsen

Not hope that he would be rescued
that was gone. But hope in his knowledge. Hope in the fact that he could learn and survive and take care of himself. Tough hope, he thought that night. I am full of though hope. — Gary Paulsen

My folks were drunks, and I had a rough childhood - really rough - in fact, rougher than I thought about. — Gary Paulsen

There. I've poked my leg, rolled down a bank and been hit in the head with the canoe.
All simple things. All fixable things. — Gary Paulsen

How could he? The — Gary Paulsen

My name is Brian Robeson and I am thirteen years old and I am alone in the north woods of Canada. All — Gary Paulsen

Yes, I've been in an igloo. They're surprisingly cozy and warm - small, though, you can't really stand up in some. — Gary Paulsen

The thing with dying was to try to not die and make death take you with surprise. — Gary Paulsen

[Russel] might not make it, he might die on the ice, but he would not die with fear. He would die working not to die... — Gary Paulsen

Tomorrow. He watched the flames and smiled. Tomorrow I'll see. All things come tomorrow. — Gary Paulsen

The burning eyes did not come back, but memories did, came flooding in. The words. Always the words. Divorce. — Gary Paulsen

There were these things to do. — Gary Paulsen

Stories are like a river that flows - you dip a bucket in it — Gary Paulsen

A border collie saved me once when I was pinned under a horse in Colorado. And once when I went through the ice, one of my sled dogs saw me go under, and she got the rest of the team, and they pulled me out of 12 feet of water. I think that dogs offer the only form of unconditional love that's available to humans. — Gary Paulsen

Look at Inuit clothing. Their stuff still works better than Cabela's. I've made my own parkas, mukluks, footgear, and it is good to 60 degrees below zero. All I did was copy the patterns that came down from the Inuits. — Gary Paulsen

School didn't work for me. I hated it. — Gary Paulsen

He did not know how long it took, but later he looked back on this time of crying in the corner of the dark cave and thought of it as when he learned the most important rule of survival, which was that feeling sorry for yourself didn't work. It wasn't just that it was wrong to do, or that it was considered incorrect. It was more than that
it didn't work. — Gary Paulsen

When he sat alone in the darkness and cried and was done, all done with it, nothing had changed. His leg still hurt, it was still dark, he was still alone and the self-pity had accomplished nothing. — Gary Paulsen

As if my whole life up to that time had somehow been safe and now I would ruin all that because, you know, catamarans flip over. — Gary Paulsen

Never assume anything, expect the unexpected, be ready for everything all the time. And — Gary Paulsen

he's not stupid, he's just not observant. — Gary Paulsen

He had to keep thinking of them because if he forgot them and did not think of them they might forget about him. And he had to keep hoping. — Gary Paulsen

Had it been just the two of us with the flock, I am sure it would have been a complete disaster. But Louie came with a helper, partner, friend, second brain: a border collie named (he must have wanted the similarities in names) Louise, and she quickly - after watching me for a moment and seeing how useless I was - took over completely. — Gary Paulsen

Reading is not daily its a life style for all readers. — Gary Paulsen

Name the book that made the biggest impression on you. I bet you read it before you hit puberty. In the time I've got left, I intend to write artistic books - for kids - because they're still open to new ideas. — Gary Paulsen

The most important rule of survival, which was that feeling sorry for yourself didn't work. — Gary Paulsen

In our family, we've always been owned by border collies, or dogs of one kind or another, and have rescued many dogs. We've lived in the woods and sometimes have had as many as 70 sled dogs. Or had six or seven dogs living in the house. Dogs have saved my life on more than one occasion - and I mean that literally. — Gary Paulsen

Everything was green, so green it went into him. — Gary Paulsen

In sailing, I single-hand, and I want to do the Horn. The Horn is the maximum expression of sailing, the way the Iditarod is the maximum expression of running dogs. It's not to write about it; it's to experience the maximum thing. — Gary Paulsen

All the luck in the world has to come every year, in every part of every year, or there is not a harvest and then the luck, the bad luck will come and everything we are, all that we can ever be, all the Einsteins and babies and love and hate, all the joy and sadness and sex and wanting and liking and disliking, all the soft summer breezes on cheeks and first snowflakes, all the Van Goghs and Rembrandts and Mozarts and Mahlers and Thomas Jeffersons and Lincolns and Ghandis and Jesus Christs, all the Cleopatras and lovemaking and riches and achievements and progress, all of that, every single damn thing that we are or ever will be is dependent on six inches of topsoil and the fact that the rain comes when it's needed and does not come when it is not needed; everything, every ... single ... thing comes with that luck. — Gary Paulsen

Simple. Keep it simple. I am Brian Robeson. I have been in a plane crash. I am going to find some food. I am going to find some berries. He — Gary Paulsen

No, not secrets so much as just the Secret. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew--- the Secret. — Gary Paulsen

I think that what computers have done is just disastrous to the language. — Gary Paulsen

I owe everything I am and everything I will ever be to books. — Gary Paulsen

I began to understand that they are not wrong or right - they just are. Wolves don't know they are wolves. That's a name we have put on them, something we have done. I do not know how wolves think of themselves, nor does anybody, but I did know and still know that it was wrong to think they should be the way I wanted them to be. — Gary Paulsen

Read like a wolf eats. — Gary Paulsen

And he's never met anyone like Harris, his unruly daredevil of a cousin. — Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen - If you work on something hard and get some success. You can get some nice rewards. — Gary Paulsen

The person who reads can bail, but the person who doesn't fails. — Gary Paulsen

I tried to contain myself... but I escaped! — Gary Paulsen

Words are alive
when I've found a story that I love, I read it again and again, like playing a favorite song over and over.
Reading isn't passive
I enter the story with the characters, breathe their air, feel their frustrations,
scream at them to stop when they're about to do something stupid, cry with them, laugh with them.
Reading for me, is spending time with a friend. A book is a friend. You can never have too many. — Gary Paulsen

He could not at first leave the fire. It — Gary Paulsen