Gary Paulsen Quotes

When the news you don't want to hear is looming before you like Everest, two things can happen. Tragedy can run you through like a sword, or it can become your backbone. Either you fall apart and sob, or you say, 'Right. What's next?

My father always used to say, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger," - 'til the accident.

That which does not kill me can only make me stronger.

Survivors can't always choose their methods.

I am extremely interested in how people negotiate catastrophe, not because I'm morbidly interested in it but because I'm interested in the secret of resilience; that's what I'm always exploring in the stories and the novels.

The crew knew because they had heard from other people, and when I showed up on the set the next day, they were all looking at me kind of weird. I told them that Bill always taught me that whenever something bad like that happens, the best thing to do is work.

I was a very sensitive kid who then had to condition myself to desensitize.

I can cope with a smack in the face, or at least I should be able to after the number I have had. This one was just run-of-the-mill for me.

It's very difficult to learn not to take nasty heckles personally.

I really never look at my health issues as 'Woe is me.' I've seen the reality of that. And it's not a pleasant thing.

My comfort wasn't the most important thing - my getting through to the other side of difficult feelings was. However long it might seem to take, and however unfair it might seem, it was my job to do it.

I know there are five stages of grief, but my parents raised me to pull up my socks when times get tough.

I learned to deal with the police... to be tough... to survive.

Was I hurt sometimes? Yeah. But not to the point where I couldn't play. I think we all go through it. Some guys escape it. Some guys don't. There's no secret formula.

When you grow up hard, when you grow up surviving, unfortunately, it helps.

Young players will suffer at times and have days when they can't cope or adjust.

I have lived long enough to be battered by the realities of life, and not too long to be downed by them.

How we handle our tough times stays with us for a long time.

Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

Just because you had every right to feel sorry for yourself didn't mean you ever took the opportunity to do so.

Life will hit you hard in the face, wait for you to get back up just so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.

Nietzsche famously said "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." But what he failed to stress is that it almost kills you.

Everyone experiences tough times, it is a measure of your determination and dedication how you deal with them and how you can come through them.

People say, That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But they are wrong. What doesn't kill you doesn't kill you. That's all you get. Sometimes, you just have to hope that's enough.

If you listen long enough you can hear my skin grow tough love is painful to the touch must be made of stronger stuff.