33+ Gary Paulsen Quotes (Adventurous, Inspiring And Humorous)

Gary Paulsen is an American writer of young adult literature, best known for adventure and coming-of-age stories. He has written more than 200 books, over 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays. His most popular works include Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room.

Top 10 Gary Paulsen Quotes

1. I owe everything I am and everything I will ever be to books.
2. Personal inspection at zero altitude. The stories come from my life - if not my own experiences, then about topics and subjects that interest me.
3. Adults are locked into car payments and divorces and work. They haven't got time to think fresh.
4. The person who reads can bail, but the person who doesn't fails.
5. And the last thought he had that morning as he closed his eyes was: I hope the tornado hit the moose.
6. Stories are like a river that flows - you dip a bucket in it
7. School didn't work for me. I hated it.
8. Do what you can as you can. Trouble, problems, will come no matter what you do , and you must respond as they come.
9. That's all it took to solve problems - just sense.
10. 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 Short Quotes

• Running with dogs is like dancing with winter
• Things seemed to go back and forth between reality and imagination--except that it was all reality.
• Books make me feel safe. Books make me feel normal.
• I read like a wolf eats. I read myself to sleep every night.
• I tried to contain myself... but I escaped!
• Read like a wolf eats and write every day. Every. Single. Day.

Gary Paulsen Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

Life Lessons by Gary Paulsen

1. Gary Paulsen's work emphasizes the importance of resilience and determination in the face of adversity. He often uses the outdoors as a setting to explore themes of self-discovery and the power of the human spirit. His stories also demonstrate the value of taking risks and embracing new experiences in order to grow and learn.