The Handmaid's Tale Season 1 quotes

Offred: [after watching the Eyes arrest Ofglen] They didn't get everything. There was something inside of her that they couldn't take away. She looked invincible.

Mrs. Castillo: I heard you speak once, at a rally before the war. You were very passionate.

Serena Joy Waterford: Women were abandoning their families and we needed to make a change. We were running out of time.

Mrs. Castillo: You were arrested for inciting to riot, if I recall?

Serena Joy Waterford: I had a temper in those days.

Mrs. Castillo: Back then, did you ever imagine a society like this?

Serena Joy Waterford: A society that has reduced its carbon emissions by 78% in three years?

Mrs. Castillo: A society in which women can no longer read your book. Or anything else.

Serena Joy Waterford: No. I didn't. God asks for sacrifices, Mrs. Castillo. That has always been His way, but He gives the righteous blessings in return. And I think that it's safe to say Gilead has been blessed in so many ways.

Rachel Tapping: Do you know a woman named June Osborne? She's 31, blonde hair, blue eyes, from Boston?

Luke Bankole: Yes, my wife.

Rachel Tapping: That's what we thought. [takes out a manilla envelope and hands it to Luke] This is for you.

[Luke takes the envelope, puts on his glasses, pulls a piece of notepaper out of the envelope, and reads as Rachel sits down]

Luke Bankole: [after a beat] Where did you get this?

Rachel Tapping: One of our contacts in the Mexican government. From one of their trade delegates. Sorry it's not more. I think they only had a few seconds.

Luke Bankole: When?

Rachel Tapping: Three weeks ago.

Luke Bankole: So she's alive?

Rachel Tapping: We believe so. Yes.

Offred: Luke is alive. I stretch out my arms to him, but he slips away. Like a ghost at daybreak. And I am left here. I wish this story were different. I wish it showed me in a better light. In a different story, maybe I wouldn't be such a fucking weakling. So I've gone back to Nick. Time after time, on my own. I want to know him, memorize him, so I can live on the image later. I should have done that with Luke because he's fading. Day by day and night by night he recedes. And I become more faithless. I could say these are acts of rebellion, a "fuck you" to the patriarchy, but those are excuses. I'm here because it feels good and because I don't want to be alone.

Offred: [after receiving a music box from Serena Joy] A perfect gift. A girl trapped in a box. She only dances when someone opens the lid, when someone else winds her up. If this is a story I'm telling, I must be telling it to someone. There's always someone, even when there's no one. I will not be that girl in the box.

Offred: It's their fault. They should have never given us uniforms if they didn't want us to be an army.

Offred: Whether this is my end or a new beginning, I have no way of knowing. I have given myself over into the hands of strangers. I have no choice. It can't be helped. And so I step up, into the darkness within ... or else the light.

Offred: Our father who art in Heaven. What the actual fuck?

June Osborne: My name is June Osborne. I'm from Brookline, Massachusetts. I am 34 years old. I stand 5'3" in bare feet. I weigh 120 pounds. I have viable ovaries. I'm five weeks pregnant. I am free.

June Osborne: Is this what freedom looks like? Even this much is dizzying. Like an elevator with open sides. In the upper reaches of the atmosphere, you'd come apart. You'd vaporize. There'd be no pressure to hold you together. 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. What will happen when I get out? I probably don't have to worry about it, because there probably is no out. "Gilead knows no bounds," Aunt Lydia said. "Gilead is within you. Like the spirit of the Lord." Or the Commander's cock. Or cancer.

Omar: You a good witch or a bad witch?

June Osborne: Depends on who you ask, I guess.

Aunt Lydia: I'm pleased that everything is going so well with the baby.

Serena Joy Waterford: As our doctor would happily tell you.

Aunt Lydia: Have I let myself become a bother? There's so much more to a successful pregnancy than can be measured in a doctor's office. The ventilation in the Handmaid's room, the firmness of the bed. The mood in the household. Her attitude seems much improved.

Serena Joy Waterford: It's everything a Wife could ask for. She's quite unlike herself.

Aunt Lydia: Mrs. Waterford, no small effort has been made to bring Offred to heel. Your baby needs to know he's in a Godly, harmonious environment.

Serena Joy Waterford: Of course. Praised be His miracle.

Offred: We do our work in the evening. She writes, I read. This is the new normal. And an offense to God. In another life, maybe we could've been colleagues. And in this one, we're heretics. I was already on the naughty list. An adulteress, a "fallen woman," as Aunt Lydia used to say. But this is new territory for Serena, I think. How does she feel about falling? She seems pretty fucking happy.

Offred: Blessed be the fruit.

Janine: May the Force be with you.