vonnegut tattooThis tattoo was submitted by Amy:

My tattoo is from Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, and it says “everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.”  My friend, whom I’ve known for 22 of my 25 years, wrote this in her own handwriting for me.

I chose Kurt Vonnegut because he is the most inspirational writer I’ve ever read, and I made it a mission to read everything he’s ever written. He is so prolific I think I’ll always be finding more and more tidbits of his to read, but after I read all of his novels in chronological order, and then all  of his collections of short stories and essays in chronological order (a total of more than 20 books) I decided to celebrate and commemorate my accomplishment with a tattoo.
I chose this quote for two reasons: Because it’s so iconically Kurt Vonnegut, and because the duality of it is so simple but so meaningful — it’s ironic and pessimistic, or it’s straightforward and optimistic, depending on how you read it, or on how you want to read it. It’s a stunning example of the whole of Kurt Vonnegut’s work.
Tags: ,
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (82 votes, average: 4.54 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

This post has 12 comments. Add your own.
Heather - 05 Mar 09 at 21:48:29

The placement is kind of… odd.

amy - 06 Mar 09 at 20:53:22

you’re kind of… odd.

holly - 06 Mar 09 at 23:28:50

What font is that? It’s beautiful.

Heather - 07 Mar 09 at 01:15:46

Oh, clever, Amy.

Anyway, I mean that it seems like it was just plopped down without any thought to making it work with the flow of your body.

guy - 27 Mar 09 at 14:58:20

that was pretty dumb of you…

Amy - 31 Mar 09 at 10:54:54

I’m the one with this tattoo — the other Amy who was posting is not me!

Just wanted to tell Holly it’s not a font, it’s my friend’s handwriting. Ya know, like I said in my description of the tattoo … but it is beautiful, that’s for sure.

iyah - 30 Nov 09 at 03:31:13

its visually stunning because it doesnt flow with the lines of her body.
somehow it adds to the depth of the tattoo.

giselle - 05 Apr 10 at 16:39:46

i agree with iyah. it’s beautiful.

natalie - 08 Jul 10 at 12:34:44

Love it! I’m getting the very same quote on my calf. (on my leg, not a baby cow)
Vonnegut is one person I would have loved to meet!

Barenakedness - 14 Sep 10 at 00:02:05

The placement is kind of…perfect! Love the whole tat – words, font, placement… Excellent!

Lily - 27 Dec 10 at 05:30:35

I absolutely love this tattoo. Thanks to this post, I am now hoping to get a tattoo in that same place, it just looks so stunning ! And being in your friend’s handwriting makes it even more symbolic. Beautiful quote as well, of course. Well done !

Kerriann - 13 Apr 11 at 03:24:58

wLREgA Good point. I hadn’t thought about it quite that way. :)