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 PaulsenI 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 PaulsenIf 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 canโt be in books. The book needs you.
Gary PaulsenWe make a mistake in thinking we own pets - the animals open their lives up and make us a part of them.
Gary PaulsenI'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 PaulsenWe donโt like to think of ourselves as preyโit is a lessening thoughtโbut 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 animalsโsharks, fever-bearing mosquitoes, wolves and bear, to name but a fewโperceive 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