The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

I remember that yearning, for something that was always about to happen and was never the same

Waste not want not. I am not being wasted. Why do I want?

There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.

We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.

How easy it is to invent a humanity, for anyone at all. What an available temptation.

Neither of us says the word love, not once. It would be tempting fate; it would be romance, bad luck.

Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.