The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue Quotes

“We have a saying in Vietnamese, ‘Xin chia buồn.’ We say it when we want to express our condolences. It means I want to share the sadness with you. I’ll carry some of it.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“And I think, yes, my heart feels like it's healing.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“I am a blade of grass, the drop of courage, the warmth in a mother's eyes, the sliver of moonlight guiding the path, the lilt of voices speaking in Arabic, the curve of the curlicues, the ink in the calligraphy inscribing poetry on marble walls, the sunrise orange, and the twilight blue.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“Glimmers of a quiet joy spread all over me. It’s tentative, like it doesn’t know where to go in all these crevices and spaces filled with grief. It’s scared, like it knows it’ll vanish at any second. That it’ll feel unwanted, guilty it’s here when it shouldn’t be.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“I remember because I gather kindness like precious stones. Because friendship doesn’t come easily to me, and all I can do is hope to be noticed.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“For people like Mason, I have to stand out to be embraced. I have to cure cancer, be a heavyweight champion, establish myself as an essential human being who has contributed greatness to the world in order for my other "less attractive" aspects to be accepted. Or, if I'm being honest, ignored. Then it would be okay that my name is Jihad. Because then I'm not like the others. My people can't exist as they are. We must prove ourselves worthy of a life.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“You'd think after everything that's happened to me, my pride and dignity would be stripped down to nothing. But that's what I fiercely try to protect the most. Even with my torn hijab raised as a flag and my humiliation branded on my cheeks, I have kept my dignity. I'd sooner die than let racists have control over it.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“The stories of my family are lost to memory and time. All we have are the stories Mama told us. Our connection to where we come from is frayed and breaking and invisible.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“غِرْبة
No word in English comes close to the true meaning of the word in Arabic. The root word of it meaning "to withdraw." From it comes many words with the same meaning. The sunset. The absence of light. At its essence, it's being a stranger in a strange country. A country that doesn't feel the way home should feel. Strange in your skin that doesn't fit along your muscles. It's a never-ending ache every person away from their homeland feels for the rest of their lives. As Muslims, we always knew that word would become a part of us.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“My parents did shower me and Amal with love, but I don't think I was ever praised for who I was. I was seen for the art I drew and the studying I did. But me... the essence of who I am, the little things I do, was never spoken about.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“I still feel hollow, even though I expected this. It's incredible how knowing something will happen never translates to how you feel about it when it actually happens.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“I spoke up. I said something. It's terrifying and it's everything. But I feel like all my energy has drained away.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“Why is it when we fight back we're the ones in the wrong? Why can't we be angry? Why can't I hate? Why must I swallow hit after hit and never protest? Why must I pretend that what they did wasn't a big deal? Why are we the oppressors when we say "enough"?”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“I want them to like me. It's safer that way. The fox won't hunt within the pack.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“The world moves slower in December, frost overtaking banisters and branches. It feels as if I'm standing in the eye of the storm, knowing if I step toward the whirling winds, it’ll take me away.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“That's one of the good things about this emptiness inside me. There's no space for anger or disappointment to fester. All are equal under the eyes of the void.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“I hope Mama isn’t cold in her grave. I hope it’s a piece of heaven on earth, holding her in a warm embrace”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“The pain in my sister's eyes could have broken me if I weren't already in pieces.”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue

“Do you seriously want to use your very last brain cell to ask me something when you need it for the rest of the year?”
― Zoulfa Katouh, The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue