Paulsen Quotes & Sayings

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

If you're old enough to be arrested, you're old enough to carry a gun. — Pat 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

This is the final book about Brian — Gary Paulsen

discoveries happened because they needed to happen. He — Gary Paulsen

I love to improvise when it's appropriate and encouraged by a producer. — Rob Paulsen

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

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

I've been reading and researching various aspects of history - Dickens' London, Nelson's sea battles, Magellan's nautical explorations, the weapons and battles and key figures of the American Civil War - for most of my life. I pick up a book here or there or see a documentary or talk with an expert in the subject, and my curiosity about the one area of study and discovery always leads to another. — 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 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

Professor Irwin Corey had some of the best timing in the world, and that is something you can't steal. He talked nonsense, not punch-lines, per se. It was a great performance thing he did and his timing was impeccable. Pat Paulsen was a master of comedy too. The Smothers Brothers' strength was not in the content, but how it was said. We had a couple of our albums, including the Purple Onion album, translated in script form. It didn't work at all. It is no wonder that writers had a hard time writing for the Smothers Brothers, because they wrote impressions, but there was something else. — Tommy Smothers

The federal government spends millions to run the Postal Service. I could lose your mail for half of that. — Pat Paulsen

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

As I've always said: The future lies ahead. — Pat Paulsen

I just want to listen and build relationships with as many of my colleagues as possible. — Erik Paulsen

It is true that all of the current presidential candidates once denied that they had any intention of running. But the fact that I am also a liar, doesn't make me a candidate. — Pat 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

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

Waiting for God is not always an easy task, but in the end His blessings will far outweigh any blessing you can imagine. — Heather Arnel Paulsen

Read like a wolf eats. — 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

Sex doesn't have to be taught. It's something most of us are born with. — Pat Paulsen

He could not play the game without hope; could not play the game without a dream. They had taken it all away from him now, they had turned away from him and there was nothing for him now ... He was alone and there was nothing for him. — Gary Paulsen

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

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

If elected, I will win. — Pat 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

A gun is a necessity. Who knows if you're walking down a street and you spot a moose? — Pat Paulsen

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

I am neither left wing nor right wing. I am middle-of-the-bird. — Pat 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 medical device tax repeal is the only proposal that had the most bipartisan votes coming out of the House and has the opportunity in the Senate to gain tractions, and it fixes a part of ObamaCare in terms of repealing an awful tax. And it's got bipartisan support. — Erik Paulsen

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

Worrying about the future is a thing of the past. I don't think about it. — Pat Paulsen

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

There is no question we need an energy policy overhaul in America. A key part of that overhaul must include moving forward aggressively with expanding nuclear energy as a renewable energy source. Storing nuclear waste is an important piece of that effort. — Erik 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

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

Only 10 percent of the people in the U.S. like dry wines. You shouldn't get down on people just because they like a little sugar. — Pat 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

If books could have more, give more, be more, show more, they would still need readers who bring to them sound and smell and light and all the rest that can't be in books.
The book needs you. — Gary Paulsen

I think we should just tip the government if it does a good job. Fifteen percent is the standard tip, isn't it? — Pat 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

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

Wine is something to enjoy. We get sick and tired of people who pick it apart and talk about its 'saucy nuances.' — Pat Paulsen

Do what you can as you can. Trouble, problems, will come no matter what you do , and you must respond as they come. — Gary Paulsen

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

There were these things to do. — Gary Paulsen

I was raised on farms by people who didn't have Wal-Mart. They had to make their own sleds, harnesses, clothing, etc. — Gary Paulsen

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

You have to understand, I can't do any jokes about Ross Perot, because the last thing I need right now is another credit check. — Pat Paulsen

I want to caucus in Iowa. I'll caucus all over the state. I don't caucus in California. You don't caucus where you live. It doesn't look good. — Pat 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

Actually, my wine was served at the White House twice. Reagan must have been asleep when he ordered it. — Pat Paulsen

We must remember that as the centuries go by, time will pass. — Pat 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

Jobs had not tempered his way of dealing with employees. "He applied charm or public humiliation in a way that in most cases proved to be pretty effective," Tribble recalled. But sometimes it wasn't. One engineer, David Paulsen, put in ninety-hour weeks for the first ten months at NeXT. He quit when "Steve walked in one Friday afternoon and told us how unimpressed he was with what we were doing." When Business Week asked him why he treated employees so harshly, Jobs said it made the company better. "Part of my responsibility is to be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected." But he still had his spirit and charisma. There were plenty of field trips, visits by akido masters, and off-site retreats. — Walter Isaacson

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

We need a tax code that promotes savings, investment, achievement, innovation, and hard work. — Erik Paulsen

The greatest thing is nobody cares that I'm fifty years old. They only care what I sound like. — Rob 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

Now that my wine has been served in the White House, why not me? Who could talk to farmers better than I? Somebody even asked me the other day if I had anything in my platform about taxes. 'Hell yes,' I said. 'Great state. But I wouldn't want to live there.' — Pat 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

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

Deep down, I happen to be very shallow. — Pat Paulsen

I'd learned some things. I knew you weren't supposed to hold a good wine at the top - the paper bag falls off. — Pat Paulsen

This beginning motion, this first time when a sail truly filled and the boat took life and knifed across the lake under perfect control, this was so beautiful it stopped my breath ... — Gary Paulsen

Work hard in school and listen to your parents. They really do want the very best for you and have been where you're going. — Rob Paulsen

How could he? The — Gary Paulsen

I read an article that said one in five Americans thinks Elvis is alive. I want to find those morons and get them registered to vote for me. — Pat Paulsen

Since I joined Congress, I've been shocked at how many times we were forced to vote on 1,000-plus-page bills without ample time to read or review what was in the final legislation. It's no wonder Congress doesn't enact good policy. — Erik Paulsen

All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian. — Pat Paulsen

College campuses are a focus of prevention efforts for meningococcal disease because of the increased incidence of the disease during adolescence and young adulthood, as well as transmission from crowded living conditions and social behaviors common among college students. — Erik 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

Just because there are celebrities in a movie, it doesn't mean anything. I don't think The Ant Bully did all that well the first week at the box office. Compare the movies that have a lot of celebrities with the Jimmy Neutron movie, which had no celebrity voices and grossed almost one hundred million dollars. — Rob Paulsen

In conclusion, you can see that there is a place for censors and we only wish that we could tell you where it is. — Pat Paulsen

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

What he did instead was clean his shelter. He had been sleeping on the foam pad that had come with the survival pack and he straightened everything up and hung his bag out in the sun to air-dry and then used the hatchet to cut the ends of new evergreen boughs and laid them like a carpet in the shelter. As soon as he brought the boughs inside and the heat from the fire warmed them they gave off the most wonderful smell, filled the whole shelter with the odor of spring, and he brought the bag back inside and spread the pad and bag and felt as if he were in a new home. The berries boiled first and he added snow water to them and kept them boiling until he had a kind of mush in the pan. By that time the meat had cooked and he set it off to the side and tasted the berry — Gary Paulsen

Only a cheap politician, greedy for political gain, would try to single out one individual for blame. The fault lies not with the individual but with the system, and that system is Richard Nixon. — Pat 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

Marijuana should be licensed and kept out of the hands of teenagers. It's too good for them. — Pat Paulsen

On the issue of inflation, I think I could solve it no matter how much money it took. — Pat Paulsen