The pace of repression outstrips our ability to understand it. And that is the real trick of the Imperial thought machine. It’s easier to hide behind 40 atrocities than a single incident.[to Cassian]
For 500 years, running fast is the only thing that can free a black man. But slavery ended 150 years ago. And it’s still the only thing that frees a black man. And that s*** ain’t even freedom. That’s just the money.
You toil still in service to men. Your father, your husband, your son. You desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison. Have you never imagined yourself on the Iron Throne?[to Alicent]
We get so comfortable with walls. It doesn’t even take that long. Wear the red dress, wear the wings, shut your mouth, be a good girl. Roll over and spread your legs. Yes, ma’am. May the Lord open.
There’s a window with white curtains, and the glass is shatterproof. But it isn’t running away they’re afraid of. A Handmaid wouldn’t get far. It’s those other escapes. The ones you can open in yourself given a cutting edge. Or a twisted sheet and a chandelier.
The powerful have always preyed on the powerless. That’s how they became powerful in the first place.
Stay in Gilead long enough and it starts to eat you from the inside out. That’s one of the things they do. They force you to kill, within yourself.
Gilead doesn’t care about children. Gilead cares about power.[to June]
Whatever our final version of success looks like, there’s no chance any of us can make it real on our own. We need the Empire to help. We need them angry. We need them coming down hard. Oppression breeds rebellion.[to Saw]
They give us half a life and think we won’t fight for it.
The Empire doesn’t play by the rules. They don’t care enough to learn. They don’t have to. You mean nothing to them.[to Nemik]
The day before is always hard. Too much time to worry.
