This is Tim’s tattoo:

My tattoo is of the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (original art by John Tenniel 1865). The Cheshire Cat is the only creature in Wonderland who uses logic. Though his words often seem mocking and bizarre, his process is always logical. To me the Cheshire Cat symbolizes the fragility of the border between genius and insanity.

Alice: Would you please tell me which way I ought to walk from here?
Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where –
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk.
Alice: — so long as I get somewhere.
Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if you only walk long enough.

(40 votes, average: 3.45 out of 5)

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“The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo.”

- From “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel.

This is Jennifer C.’s tattoo:

When I was young, I would lose myself in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. It was the most imaginative story I had ever heard. This illustration comes from the amazing John Tenniel – his images were always my favorite.

(51 votes, average: 4.37 out of 5)

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Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll are 2 of my favourite books of all time.  Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland film comes out on March 5th, so it’s a perfect time for an Alice theme week!

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the cat: “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the cat, “Or you wouldn’t have come here.”

This is Jessica’s tattoo.  She says:

(65 votes, average: 4.55 out of 5)

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This is Morgan’s tattoo:

The idea for this tattoo came from a quote out of Chuck Palahniuk’s book, Fight Club. The quote says, “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything.”

I was faced with the decision of whether or not to use you’ve/you or we’ve/we. I came to the conclusion that I wanted this tattoo to represent not only myself but also my view on society. It didn’t feel right to use the word “you” because I felt as though it would then become about the person reading it and not about what I have overcome. I also felt that by saying “we” it would stay faithful to my cynicism towards society and how I believe that people do not truly understand what it means to be free inside their own minds, which is what the book is about in the first place.

This tattoo represents having strength and independence and losing all fear no matter what situations we are dealt in life. Most importantly it’s about learning to face your pain full on with your head held high instead of denying that it affects you in the first place.

(45 votes, average: 4.22 out of 5)

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I posted Hannah’s Peter, Paul & Mary tattoo a long time ago.  This is her new(er) tattoo.

“‘I’ll drop my final anchor with the wind howling in my ears above and the swish of bilge below me,’  he declared, ‘and that way I’ll go content.’ And when the time came, I’m sure he went content.”

- From Cradle of the Deep, the fabricated autobiography by Joan Lowell.

(27 votes, average: 3.96 out of 5)

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This is Anna’s tattoo:

It’s basically a reminder to live life and to experience it and spend time with those I love, and to spend time doing what I love.

“Hershel did not possess a family of his own. He was not such a special person. He loved to read very much, and also to write. He was a poet, and he exhibited me many of his poems. I remember many of them. They were silly, you could say, and about love. He was always in his room writing those things, and never with people. I used to tell him, What good is all that love doing on paper? I said, Let love write on you for a little. But he was so stubborn. Or perhaps he was only timid.”

- Excerpt from Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.

(59 votes, average: 4.39 out of 5)

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This is Sarah’s tattoo:

I fell in love with Ulysses by James Joyce when I was in college studying literature, identifying with the bumbling, conflicted Leopold Bloom.

When my life was recently turned upside down by heartache, I was reminded of this line from the “Hades” chapter, spoken by Bloom: “Plenty to see and hear and feel yet.”

I modified the line to bring out the main points, and had it done in white ink on the inside of my wrist. Most artists don’t like to do white ink tattoos, but I wanted this tattoo to be for me and not immediately visible to anyone else. It’s my daily reminder that no matter what unexpected turns that life can take, there’s always something new around the corner.

(77 votes, average: 4.56 out of 5)

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This is Nick’s tattoo:

Attached is a photograph of my own V.F.D. tattoo, located on the inside of my left ankle, from Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s different from most you’ll see in that it’s based on Bret Helquist’s drawing in the ninth book, The Carnivorous Carnival (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 9). I chose this design over the other one because it was more obviously an eye, and less obviously the letters V.F.D.

(32 votes, average: 3.69 out of 5)

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This is Ren’s tattoo.

Any new idea, Mahound, is asked two questions.
The first is asked when it’s weak:
WHAT KIND OF AN IDEA ARE YOU?
Are you the kind that compromises, does deals, accommodates itself to society, aims to find a niche, to survive;
or are you the cursed, bloody-minded ramrod-backed type of damnfool notion that would rather break than sway with the breeze?
- the kind that will almost certainly, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, be smashed to bits;
but the hundredth time, will change the world?

What’s the second question? Gibreel asked.

Answer the first one first.

- The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

(28 votes, average: 4.21 out of 5)

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This is Katie C.’s tattoo:

The reason I got it was because I can really relate to having many paths in my life I might take, and I want to remind myself that if I wait around for the perfect, right one, eventually all my choices will be gone.

- Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Chapter 7

(46 votes, average: 4.13 out of 5)

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