AFOOT and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

The earth—that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where they are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;
I carry them, men and women—I carry them with me wherever I go;
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them;
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)

- Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road
(full text)

(source)

(32 votes, average: 3.63 out of 5)

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“For those who belong nowhere, and for those who belong to one place too much to belong anywhere else.”

- Alden Nowlan

(source)

(25 votes, average: 3.56 out of 5)

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I’m a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl
You’re the bird on the brim
Hypnotised by the Whirl

Drink me, make me feel real
Wet your beak in the stream
Game we’re playing is life
Love is a two way dream

Leave me now, return tonight
Tide will show you the way
If you forget my name
You will go astray
Like a killer whale
Trapped in a bay

I’m a path of cinders
Burning under your feet
You’re the one who walks me
I’m your one way street

I’m a whisper in water
Secret for you to hear
You are the one who grows distant
When I beckon you near

Leave me now, return tonight
The tide will show you the way
If you forget my name
You will go astray
Like a killer whale
Trapped in a bay

I’m a tree that grows hearts
One for each that you take
You’re the intruder hand
I’m the branch that you break

- Bjork, Bachelorette

(source)

(69 votes, average: 3.91 out of 5)

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he couldn’t believe how easy it was
he put the gun into his face
bang!
(so much blood from such a tiny little hole)

problems have solutions
a lifetime of fucking things up fixed in one determined flash

everything’s blue
in this world
the deepest shade of mushroom blue
all fuzzy
spilling out of my head

- Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral

(source)

(44 votes, average: 3.02 out of 5)

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“Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row.”

- Holden Caufield in Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Thanks to Cat for letting me post this.

(64 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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“Those people were overjoyed; they took to their boats. I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat. The rhythm of my footsteps crossing floodlands to your door have been silenced forever more. The distance is quite simply much to far for me to row it seems farther than ever before. Oh no.
I need you so much closer. I need you so much closer. So come on, come on. “

- Death Cab For Cutie, Transatlanticism

(source)

(69 votes, average: 2.81 out of 5)

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“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

Thanks to Darren for letting me post this.
(source)

(54 votes, average: 3.96 out of 5)

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“Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”

- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There

Thanks to Jazzi for letting me post her tattoo.
(source)

(55 votes, average: 4.49 out of 5)

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“The Greeks who were locked up in the Cyclops’ cave lived a tranquil existence as they awaited their turn to be devoured.”

- Rousseau, On the Social Contract, ch. IV “On Slavery”

(source)

(31 votes, average: 3.45 out of 5)

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Braille Tattoos by Klara Jirkova:

body modification which purpose is not just to decorate the skin but to be touched and read. opportunity for blind people to have a meaningful body alteration, but also something what could be used by those who live or work with blind people as a new attempt to their way of perceiving

(excerpt from her site)

(167 votes, average: 4.53 out of 5)

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