The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale, #2)

by Margaret Atwood

We were custodians of an invaluable treasure that existed, unseen, inside us; we were precious flowers that had to be kept safely inside glass houses, or else we would be ambushed and our petals would be torn off and our treasure would be stolen and we would be ripped apart and trampled by the ravenous men who might lurk around any corner, out there in the wide sharp-edged sin-ridden world.

One person alone is not a full person: we exist in relation to others. I was one person: I risked becoming no person.

wan

All things come to she who waits. Time wounds all heels. Patience is a virtue. Vengeance is mine. These hoary chestnuts are not always true, but they are sometimes true. Here’s one that is always true: everything’s in the timing. Like jokes.

“No one wants to die,” said Becka. “But some people don’t want to live in any of the ways that are allowed.”

Being able to read and write did not provide the answers to all questions. It led to other questions, and then to others.