Quotes from Gary Paulsen

Just as bad things could snowball, Brian found that good things could come fast as well.

For those of you who wish to get a feel for it, get in the car and bring it up to fifty miles an hour and then stick your head and arms outside and, while driving, try to fold up a simple bath towel in the wind

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. The plane gone, his family gone, all of it gone. They would not come. He was alone and there was nothing for him.

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

Will, have you been paying attention to the number of times we had to go one passage farther than the first left? I've been trying to. Why? This place is really getting to me. I don't like the idea of spending the rest of my life down here. Will sighed. Relax, Sarah. Just lie down and go to sleep. Humor me and tell me how many times. Okay. Three. We've hit three dead ends. It's four, Will. I knew that. I was just checking to see if you were on your toes.

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.

They say nature abhors a vacuum, but it doesn't like two take-charge personalities in the same vicinity either.

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

So. So. So here I am." And there it is, he thought. For

Kind of like a pear, he had thought, with a point on one end and a fat little body; a flying pear.

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

demanding. He turned to see Derek, who was coming up the back of the hill. "See the fish—

There's nothing wrong with bad habits...Where would we be without our bad habits? They're what separates us from the dreary souls amongst us.

I know that my life on boats has been about this: not the sailing or the sea so much as learning about self. And almost every boat I have had has taught me something.

If you keep walking back from good luck, he thought, you'll come to bad luck.

The most, MOST important thing is to read. Read all the time; read when they tell you not to read, what they tell you not to read, read with a flashlight under the covers, read on the bus, standing on a corner, waiting for a friend, in the dentist's waiting room. Read every minute you can. READ LIKE A WOLF EATS. Read. 

But life has a way of pulling the rug out from under you just when you need it least, which is what they like to call growing, I guess, but as far as I'm concerned you can have it. It seems like everything they call growing up has to jerk your guts out and just about wreck you and I've never been able to understand why that's supposed to be good for you.

We each live in our own time...And we must do the best we can with our time. Those who came before weren't as lucky as us and we aren't as lucky as some who may come later. We must still live in our own time and do the best we can.

All of flying is easy. Just takes learning. Like everything else. Like everything else.

hundred-mile

In measured time forty-seven days had passed since the crash. Forty-two days, he thought, since he had died and been born as the new Brian. When the plane had come and gone it had put him down, gutted him and dropped him and left him with nothing.

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.

You eat the gut berries, you throw up. Don't eat the gut berries.

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...