Gary Paulsen Quotes
Born: May 17, 1939
Gary Paulsen’s life was a testament to the raw, unvarnished power of resilience. A three-time Newbery Honor winner, he forged his legendary voice not in classrooms but in the unforgiving wilderness of the Northwoods and the brutal realities of a troubled youth. His philosophy was simple: survival is not just about the body, but the relentless focus of the spirit. Paulsen believed that hardship is a forge, not a prison, and that true grit is born from quiet endurance. His words resonate because they strip away pretense, speaking directly to anyone who has faced a storm and chosen to keep walking.
Gary Paulsen Quotes (16)
"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"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"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"I think that what computers have done is just disastrous to the language."
— 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"My folks were drunks, and I had a rough childhood - really rough - in fact, rougher than I thought about."
— 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"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"School didn't work for me. I hated it."
— Gary Paulsen"Adults are locked into car payments and divorces and work. They haven't got time to think fresh."
— 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"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"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"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"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"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