Submitted by Neal:

You’ll have to click on this one for the full size.

It’s a pull from Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The number 42 is obvious for anyone who has read the book as being the answer to life, the universe and everything. The “don’t panic” on either side of the number 42 is also from the book, wherein Douglas Adam’s claims on the front of the actual Hitchhikers Guide (the one in the book not the book itself) it reads “Don’t Panic” in very friendly letters.

(30 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)

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Artwork from Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Kathryn submitted this on behalf of her friend, who says:

The tattoo artist said that this is one of the weirdest tattoos he’s ever done and goes against everything he’s learned about tattoos–no solid lines, no strong blocks of color. But I think it’s absolutely perfect (albeit still a bit swollen in this picture), after two hundred dollars and two hours in the chair. “People where you live,” the little prince said, “grow five thousand roses in one garden… yet they don’t find what they’re looking for…” “They don’t find it,” I answered. “And yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose, or a little water…” “Of course,” I answered. And the little prince added, “But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.”

(47 votes, average: 4.38 out of 5)

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Submitted by Kurt:

Lee’s hand shook as he filled the delicate cups. He drank his down in one gulp. “Don’t you see?” he cried. “The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin, and you can call sin ignorance. The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—’Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ Don’t you see?”

- Excerpt from East of Eden by John Steinbeck

(71 votes, average: 4.54 out of 5)

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From The Shape of Things to Come by H.G. Wells.  Zach Sawyer says:

This tattoo was inspired by the H.G. Wells novel “The Shape of Things To Come” shortened to “Things to Come”, as a form of self confirmation. In a way, it was kind of my way of stating that this is who I am and who I plan on being.

(22 votes, average: 3.05 out of 5)

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Submitted by Bonnie:

Orwell and his writings came to me at a pivotal point in my life. When I read Nineteen Eighty-Four, it changed my life and the way I looked at the world. I got this tattoo to pay homage to Orwell and to show my rebellion against any government that manipulates their citizens into thinking the way the government wants them to. Many people see the tattoo and think I believe the words of it, but actually it is a reminder to myself to think before accepting as truth whatever someone tells me.

“War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.”
- From 1984 by George Orwell

(52 votes, average: 4.02 out of 5)

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This tattoo from “Run Into Flowers” by M83 was submitted by Luke:

For a good, solid year this song was my soundtrack to everything; a constant point of reference at a time when everything shifted. As such, it seemed only fitting to etch a memorial to it into my skin. As you do. However, after I had this tattoo done I quickly discovered two things:

1. I had misunderstood the heavily distorted vocals in the song. Where I had heard, harvested and believed ‘I want to run to you’, the song actually says ‘I want to run into’. Flowers we can only presume.

2. The words I did end up having tattooed across my shoulders are far more famous as a lyric from a Bryan Adams song. I heard the song for the first time a few weeks after the tattoo was done. Timing is everything.

Nonetheless, I feel it stands as a proper memorial to the time. Misheard as they may have been, these words were my version of events. So rather than being a flat tribute to a band, the tattoo became instead a personal and flawed declaration of love for a piece of music that seemed to permit a lot of what followed. And one that has absolutely nothing, at all to do with Bryan Adams. So stop asking.

(47 votes, average: 3.64 out of 5)

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