List of important quotes from The Handmaid’s Tale
Aunt Lydia’s quotes:
1. “Knowing was a temptation. What you don’t know won’t tempt you.”-
chapter 30
2. “There is more than one kind of freedom. 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” - chapter 3
3. “Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you
now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.”- chapter 6
4. “it's not the husbands you have to watch out for, it's the Wives. You
should always try to imagine what they must be feeling; of course,
they will resent you. It's only natural, try to feel for them.” - chapter 8
“As for my husband, she said, he’s just that...my husband. I want
that to be perfectly clear. Till death do us part.” - Commander’s
Wife (chapter 3)
“Better never means better for everyone...It always means worse,
for some” - Commander (chapter 32)
Offred’s quotes:
1. "I once had a garden. I can remember the smell of the turned earth,
the plump shapes of bulbs held in the hands, fullness, the dry rustle of
seeds through the fingers." - chapter 3
2. "But people will do anything rather than admit that their lives have no
meaning. No use, that is. No plot." -Chapter 33
3. "What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame,
the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface." -Chapter 24
4. "I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means
of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my
will . . . Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed
around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more
real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping." -Chapter
13
5. "A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the
maze." -Chapter 27
6. "When we think of the past it's the beautiful things we pick out. We
want to believe it was all like that." -Chapter six
7. "But who can remember pain, once it's over? All that remains of it is a
shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh." -Chapter 21
Aunt Lydia’s quotes:
1. “Knowing was a temptation. What you don’t know won’t tempt you.”-
chapter 30
2. “There is more than one kind of freedom. 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” - chapter 3
3. “Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you
now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.”- chapter 6
4. “it's not the husbands you have to watch out for, it's the Wives. You
should always try to imagine what they must be feeling; of course,
they will resent you. It's only natural, try to feel for them.” - chapter 8
“As for my husband, she said, he’s just that...my husband. I want
that to be perfectly clear. Till death do us part.” - Commander’s
Wife (chapter 3)
“Better never means better for everyone...It always means worse,
for some” - Commander (chapter 32)
Offred’s quotes:
1. "I once had a garden. I can remember the smell of the turned earth,
the plump shapes of bulbs held in the hands, fullness, the dry rustle of
seeds through the fingers." - chapter 3
2. "But people will do anything rather than admit that their lives have no
meaning. No use, that is. No plot." -Chapter 33
3. "What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth, created by a frame,
the arrangement of shapes on a flat surface." -Chapter 24
4. "I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means
of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my
will . . . Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed
around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more
real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping." -Chapter
13
5. "A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the
maze." -Chapter 27
6. "When we think of the past it's the beautiful things we pick out. We
want to believe it was all like that." -Chapter six
7. "But who can remember pain, once it's over? All that remains of it is a
shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh." -Chapter 21
