The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

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.

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.

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

In reduced circumstances the desire to live attaches itself to strange objects.

But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.

Whatever is silenced will clamor to be heard, though silently.

A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.

totemistic

You can't help what you feel, Moira once said, but you can help how you behave.

You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.

What you don't know won't tempt you,

"Mayday,"

You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, is what he says.

Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.

Was it really worth it, falling in love?

Time has not stood still. It has washed over me, washed me away, as if I'm nothing more than a woman of sand, left by a careless child too near the water.