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Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen Quotes

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Famous Gary Paulsen Quotes

“Why do I read? I just can't help myself. I read to learn and to grow, to laugh and to be motivated. I read to understand things I've never been exposed to. I read when I'm crabby, when I've just said monumentally dumb things to the people I love. I read for strength to help me when I feel broken, discouraged, and afraid. I read when I'm angry at the whole world. I read when everything is going right. I read to find hope. I read because I'm made up not just of skin and bones, of sights, feelings, and a deep need for chocolate, but I'm also made up of words. Words describe my thoughts and what's hidden in my heart. 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.”

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Book:Shelf Life: Stories by the Book
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“All right, he thought, take one thing at a time. Just one thing. I poked my leg with an arrow. There. Good. I pulled the arrow out. My leg still works. It must not have been a broadhead because it didn't go in very deep. Good. My tent collapsed. There. Another thing. I'm in a tent and it collapsed. I just have to find the front zipper and get out and climb up the bank. Easy now, easy. Something hit me on the head. What? Something big that thunked. The canoe. The wind picked up the canoe and it hit me.”

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Author:Gary Paulsen
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“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.”

BookWarReadingStudySeaSubjectsFiguresKeysBattleWeaponsPicksDiscoveryAreasAspectCuriosityVariousLondonExpertsCivil WarExplorationDocumentariesAmerican Civil WarNelsonDickensNauticalMagellan
Author:Gary Paulsen
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“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.”

IfsMadeChallengesBehindsAdventureMountainWoodsShipsMexicoBrushesAlaskaPacificBrianMinnesotaNew MexicoHorsebackSailboat
Author:Gary Paulsen
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“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.”

DifferentLightLastsWaterHoursStudySeeingAirSeaSkyWindOceanSittingWavePatternsCaughtTake MeBowsSea WaterSea And SkyOcean WaveSea Air
Book:Caught by the Sea: My Life on Boats
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“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.”

KnowsLongImportantFeelingsDarkKnow HowCrySurvivalSorryCornersWorking ItCavesSelf PityFeeling SorryFeeling Sorry For YourselfStop Feeling Sorry For Yourself
Book:Hatchet
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“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.”

ThinkingHumansSometimesRunningNamesForgetAnimalSourceBearsTruth IsUniquePainfulSuperiorsPerceiveMeatArroganceShockingPreyFeverSharksHumblingMosquitoesMemos
Book:Brian's Hunt
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“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.”

FeelsBookCharacterStoriesSongReadingFoundLaughingAliveAirStupidCrySpendingBreatheFrustrationScreamPassiveAgain And AgainSpending TimeFavorite Song
Author:Gary Paulsen
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“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.”

IfsKindBookUniverseAnswersKnownSubjectsInformationMastersAll ThingsLibraryBrilliantThoughtfulParallelsLibrarianJoyousParallel Universe
Author:Gary Paulsen
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