Good Different Quotes

“Fight for words, even if it's hard.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“You may have different needs
than some folks in your class,
but that doesn't make you the ­«wrong» version
and other people the «normal» version.
You are Selah.
And you are not the only one
feeling these things.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“We have the power of dragons; therefore, we cannot live together with humans … we have the hearts of humans; therefore, we do not belong with monsters. We are outcasts in this world, never a part of either community. And so we live our lives alone, never to be understood by anyone. —Myrrh, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“I write so I don’t have to think about the looks people give me what to say and not say”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Even though I have friends and act like it’s fine, deep, deep down, I really wish somewhere I could be fully me, where I could relax and not feel like a freak—”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“I used to like the rules—sharp and exact as if drawn with a ruler— but they’re exhausting too. I used to think my rules could save me, make me happy, but all I see now are the ways they make me feel like I’m not enough.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“On the way home from school, Mom asks me how I’m doing. I say fine, then realize I’m saying fine because that’s what the rules always said: You have to say you’re fine no matter how you’re feeling because people only want to hear “I’m fine.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“I feel safe with my sunglasses on, protected by my earplugs, like I’m walking inside a clear force field.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Autism is a word I’ve heard before but it’s never been said like it’s a good thing. People say “autism” the same way they say things like “cancer.” But the more I read, the more I realize autism can be and look like lots of things. That’s why it’s called a spectrum.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“So even if it stinks, there’s nothing you can do but to try to blend in and do your best to look like what everyone wants you to be: nice. polite. happy. quiet. Normal. A good little human.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Even if the world doesn’t make sense and things are scary and unpredictable, you can count on the rules to make order from the chaos so that things can stay the same and no one gets hurt including you.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“The bathroom door opens. “Selah?” Under the stall, I see Mrs. V’s purple heels. I take a deep breath, unlock the door, but before I can get myself to move, I break out crying. Again.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“I go back  to the bathroom lock myself  in the far-most stall and breathe in  and out    and in and out and in and out and in until I’m no longer breathing but panting like a hunted deer I can’t stop I can’t stop I’m going to die I’m screaming I’m glad no one else is in the bathroom Hope no one can hear me through the walls Hope no one is afraid I might hurt them”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Mrs. V writes lots of notes but my favorite is: “Sometimes I wish I were a dragon too.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“But as much as I want to be, I am not a dragon. Maybe that’s why I hit Addie. It was the most dragon-like thing I could do.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Eyes are powerful and terrifying. Feelings pour out from them like a geyser. People’s feelings are complicated. The things that come out of people’s eyes are things I can’t always translate. I can only look at them for so long without panicking.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“for everyone if we stay in dungeons and caves away from everyone else.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Besides, my worst nightmare was right: My secret’s out, and I’m sure Noelle doesn’t want to hang out with a weirdo like me. Can I blame her? What if I hurt her like I hurt Addie? Dragons can be solitary creatures if we need to be. Safer”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“It’s not that I don’t want to say anything but that everything I can think to say will only make things worse.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Noelle’s eyes widen. She doesn’t answer my question. She looks away, like she can’t wait to get away from a weirdo like me. I don’t want to blow up at Noelle. I don’t want to blow up ever again. But I’m like that ripping trash bag, and all that smelly stuff is coming out, showing just how strange I really am on the inside and who wants to hang out with a smelly bag of trash for a friend?”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“What has to happen to make something officially “really bad”?”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“But when Mom was my age, did she feel like a dragon dressing up as a human? Sometimes I feel like I’m an Amazon package that was mailed to the wrong planet. Even Pop said the world’s not built for folks like us. Folks like him and me? Folks like Mom and me? But if that’s true, that we’re different, then why won’t Mom say it?”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Mom says everyone feels weird in seventh grade. Your body is changing, you’re not quite a kid anymore but not 100% a teen yet either. You’re in the middle of lots of changes and changes are hard.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“But he was just saying what we’re all thinking,” I tell her. “He was trying to help, and besides, what if they don’t stop? What if they just keep being loud and obnoxious?” Mom shakes her head. “Who knows what those kids’ll do. They get riled up, it might be more than a bike next time. We can put up with a little noise,” she says, closing all the curtains— as if this can keep the bad neighbors away.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“Pop and I are the same in lots of ways. We’re both itching to be in our own world.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“I thought it’d be nice to not be at school but it only reminds me how I broke my rules and makes me count the days till I can go back and prove to everyone that I am a Good Pebblecreek Kid.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“You know, kiddo we dance to the rhythm of our own drums, don’t we? We’re cut from the same cloth. But you know what? We’ll make it through just fine.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“If I’ve learned something in my time on this earth, it’s that if you don’t stand up for yourself, no one else will. If I don’t give my two cents, no one will ask for it, and it’ll sit inside me, boiling over. So that’s why I yap and yammer and write in my notebook. Say, have you given that notebook I gave you for your birthday a spin yet? If not, try it. Write what really happened at school and let it all out.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“All I’m saying is people make too much of a fuss over folks who are different.”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different

“You aren’t supposed to hit people,” Mom says. “Period. You know this.” I know. I wish more than anything I never hit Addie. But what do I do about the fire inside my body that just keeps getting bigger and bigger? I want to tell Mom this, but keep my lips sealed like a ziplock bag. Keep the fire contained no matter what. Another rule for my Normal list. “Just one more problem and they can expel you,” Mom says, every muscle in her face tight. Mom works hard to pay for Pebblecreek’s tuition. I’m one of the Pebblecreek Kids. But now I’m also the Girl Who Hits People. What would she do if they expelled me? Where would she bring me? Somewhere with long, strange hallways and classrooms I’ve never seen. Somewhere without Mrs. V or Noelle or anyone I know. I can’t risk messing up again. But a small voice inside me can’t help but ask: What if I explode again? What if I hurt someone else? What if it gets worse and worse until I become all dragon no girl and set fire to my life?”
― Meg Eden Kuyatt, Good Different