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Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1) QUOTES

Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1) QUOTES

1 " Don't ask me, we never did anything other than kissing.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,’ I swallow the frog trying to hop its way out of my esophagus.
“Landon wanted to, but I wasn’t ready.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry I can’t help.”
“No!” He smiled and his shoulders unclenching. That actually helps a lot… I was just worried I guess.”
“Why.”
.”I don’t know. It just seemed like we were supposed to want it. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

2 " Everyone wants you here. We have a saying in Farsi. It translates ‘your place was empty.’ We say it when we miss somebody."
I sniffed.
"Your place was empty before. But this is your family. You belong here. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

3 " Suicide isn't the only way you can lose someone to depression. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

4 " But the wall weren't just inside of him.
They were between us.
I didn't know how to breach them. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

5 " But the walls weren't just inside of him.
They were between us.
I didn't know how to breach them. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

6 " How could I be a tourist in my own past? "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

7 " You don’t care what anyone thinks. You know?”
My ears burned. “I care what everyone thinks, Sohrab.”
“No you don’t. Not really. You don’t try to change yourself. You know who you are.” He bumped shoulders with me. “I wish I was like that. I always try to be what my mom needs. What my amou needs. What you need. But you are the opposite. You are happy with who you are.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s really me. You’ve never seen what it’s like back home. How everyone treats me.”
“They don’t know you, Darioush.” Sohrab grabbed my shoulder. “I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”
“I wish you could see yourself too.” I swallowed. “You’re the only person who never wanted me to change. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

8 " I wanted to know what our family's stories were.
I wanted to know the things Mom wouldn't think to tell me. Things she knew but never said out loud, because they were a part of her.
I wanted to know what made the Bahrami family special. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

9 " The thing is, I never had a friend like Sohrab before. One who understood me without even trying. Who knew what it was like to be stuck on the outside because of one little thing that set you apart. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

10 " I was one tiny pulsar in a swirling, luminous galaxy of Iranians, held together by the gravity of thousands of years of culture and heritage. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

11 " ...love was and opportunity, not a burden. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

12 " I had never been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, but Dr. Howell said that anxiety and depression often went hand in hand. Comorbidity, he called it. It was an ominous-sounding word. It made me anxious. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

13 " In theory, taarof means putting others before yourself. In practice, it means when someone comes to your house, you have to offer them food; but since your guest is supposed to taarof, they have to refuse; and then you, the host, must taarof back, insisting that it's really no trouble at all, and that they absolutely must eat; and so on, until one party gets too bewildered and finally gives in... It's not an American Social Cue. When Mom met Dad's parents for the first time, they offered her a drink, which she politely declined- and that was that. She really did want something to drink, but she didn't know how to go about asking. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

14 " You’re the only person who never wanted me to change. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

15 " We were friends back then, in the way that everyone is friends in kindergarten, before sociopolitical alliances begin to cement, and then, by the time third grade rolls around, you find yourself spending every game of Heads Down, Thumbs Up with your head down and your thumb up, completely ignored by your entire class until you begin to wonder if you've turned invisible. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

16 " But even as I laughed, I thought about how Mamou and Mrs. Rezaei and Sohrab had danced this dance together before. How they had celebrated Nowruz together before. How Mamou had kissed Sohrab on both cheeks and invited him inside for tea before. More times than anyone could count. My chest imploded. Just a little bit. I hated how Sohrab had a larger share of my grandmother's life than I did. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

17 " It's just hard," I said. "Everyone knows everyone. And everyone speaks Farsi. And everyone knows the dances. And I..." ..."Darioush." Sohrab bumped my shoulder again. "No one wants me here." "Everyone wants you here. We have a saying in Farsi. It translates to 'your place was empty'. We say it when we miss somebody." I sniffed. "Your place was empty before. But this is your family. You belong here. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

18 " love was an opportunity, not a burden. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

19 " I knew soccer/non-American football jerseys weren't cheap. Sohrab could have used that money on some new cleats for himself, but he had gotten me the jersey instead. "Are you okay, Darioush?" "Yeah. Yeah." I blinked some more. "It's just really, really nice." It made me feel like I belonged. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)

20 " I loved my little sister. When I looked at her, I felt the same way as when I stared into the ancient flame of the Atashkadeh. Or when I heard the azan ring out across the city. "

― Adib Khorram , Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius The Great, #1)