Quotessence
Home / Books / The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

Book by Margaret Atwood · 5 quotes · Handmaids Tale, Handmaids, Knows

Filter quotes by topic

AllHandmaids TaleHandmaidsKnowsWantWayFeelsLooksPastThinkingIfsUsedBelieveFallFeminismI CanLongMeanMenStoriesWater

The Handmaid's Tale Quotes

“Well. Then we had the irises, rising beautiful and cool on their tall stalks, like blown glass, like pastel water momentarily frozen in a splash, light blue, light mauve, and the darker ones, velvet and purple, black cat's ears in the sun, indigo shadow, and the bleeding hearts, so female in shape it was a surprise they'd not long since been rooted out. There is something subversive about this garden of Serena's, a sense of buried things bursting upwards, wordlessly, into the light, as if to point, to say: Whatever is silenced will clamor to be heard, though silently.”

IfsWellsHeartLongLightBeautifulBlackWaterSunHeardShapesShadowFemaleGardenCatEarsBlueSurpriseGlassesRisingTallBuriedRootedFrozenPurpleBleedingStalkingSubversiveVelvetBurstingClamorIrisesIndigoBlack CatBleeding HeartPastelLight Blue
Book:The Handmaid's Tale
Create image

“Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the dawn? Yet if you look east, at sunset, you can see night rising, not falling; darkness lifting into the sky, up from the horizon, like a black sun behind cloud cover. Like smoke from an unseen fire, a line of fire just below the horizon, brushfire or a burning city. Maybe night falls because it’s heavy, a thick curtain pulled up over the eyes. Wool blanket.”

IfsLooksEyeNightFallBlackLinesCitiesBehindsDarknessSunFireSkyCloudsHeavyEastBurningSmokeDawnFallenRisingSunsetHorizonThickUnseenCurtainsBlanketLiftingWool
Book:The Handmaid's Tale
Create image

“I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.”

IfsNeedsBelieveI CanRealStoriesLeftChancePicksReal Life
Book:The Handmaid's Tale
Create image