I’m sure there will be much debate over whether or not this should be considered “literary”, but this is Deaf Lexy’s closed caption symbol. She says:
I was born deaf and I got the symbol tattooed because I pretty much learned everything I needed to know in life with the help of closed captions. Plus, it never fails to make people smile.
(100 votes, average: 4.51 out of 5)
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“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…”
- From Twilight
This is Heather’s Twilight tattoo. Heather is a YA librarian who says that “this line embodies the spirit of all the books”.
(309 votes, average: 1.78 out of 5) Loading ...
This tattoo is on Aaron, who “regardless of the boy spelling,” is indeed a lady.
The So it Goes tattoo I got after having my beloved cat Jello Biafra put to sleep last year. He was only four. We never really were able to figure out what happened to him, but he gradually lost the use of his front legs, our vet’s best guess was some sort of small tumor on nerve endings. We spent a lot of money and time (driving four hours to see a veterinarian neurologist, taking out a credit card specifically for the vet bills) trying to make him better, but in the end we weren’t able to save him. Some of his ashes were mixed into the ink for this tattoo.
This was posted as a part of “So it Goes” Saturdays. The phrase “so it goes” appears in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five 116 times. Can you help me collect 116 “so it goes” tattoos? 10 down, 106 to go.
(62 votes, average: 4.39 out of 5) Loading ...
Neil’s tattoo is an illustration from The Headless Bust: A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millennium
(28 votes, average: 3.79 out of 5) Loading ...Kristin submitted this picture of her dust jacket tattoo, as well as a picture of the original illustration.
This tattoo is based on an illustration by John Alcorn in Books!
(36 votes, average: 3.61 out of 5) Loading ...
Jennifer submitted her tattoo back in January and I finally got around to posting it:
I just got a great new tattoo while visiting my sister in NM….I had it narrowed down to about ten quotes I liked, and my sister and her husband helped me pick out this one.
“Nothing is worth more than this day” is a quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German playwright who’s associated with all sorts of great quotes.
I was really encouraged by all the awesome tattoos posted on this site, though, thanks for posting these here. Hooray for tattoos!
(52 votes, average: 4.48 out of 5) Loading ...
“But you can’t give your heart to a wild thing; the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they’re strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That’s how you’ll end up if you love a wild thing. You’ll end up looking at the sky. But believe me- it’s better to look at the sky than to live there. Such an empty place; so vague. just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear…”
- Excerpt from Breakfast at Tiffany’s
This tattoo is on Coco:
I went alone to the best tattoo place in DC (Jinxproof – I wouldn’t go anywhere else!) to get my pretty painful rib tattoo and it was one of the most exhilarating and empowering experiences of my life. I would definitely recommend going alone to get a personal tattoo– it felt fantastic!
(63 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5) Loading ...This tattoo is on Stacey.
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”
- William Shakespeare’s As You Like It
(41 votes, average: 3.73 out of 5) Loading ...
Jim Genzano explains his tattoo:
The tattoo says “Elendil,” the name of a character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, written in Tolkien’s Tengwar script. In the Elvish language Quenya, the name means “elf friend” or “star lover.” Elendil’s name written in this fashion was often used as his badge and a device on his seals. I got the tattoo – my first – as a memorial tattoo after the death of my friend Star. I liked the “star” connection, and also Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings had a huge effect on me growing up and is still my favorite series of novels. Star was also a fan.
(37 votes, average: 3.81 out of 5) Loading ...This is J. Rippel’s tattoo:
Just an ever-present reminder of my love, my home, my muse, Illinois. Designed by a good friend.
Byzantium, I come not from,
But from another time and place
Whose race was simple, tried and true;
As boy
I dropped me forth in Illinois.
A name with neither love nor grace
Was Waukegan, there I came from
And not, good friends, Byzantium.
- Excerpt from “Byzantium” by Ray Bradbury
(45 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5) Loading ...
