beautiful people
This tattoo belongs to Natalie Ladik.
This quote is extremely important to me. When I read it, I could hear the words spoken that I, myself, believe, but find hard to voice. I believe in new and old souls, which ties into this for me. I believe if you have not suffered, if you have not been broken, if you have not seen life at some of it's worst and still come out with hope, kindness, love and generosity, you are not beautiful. Not truly.
Beauty starts from within and merges forward to your outer self. Without sad, nostalgic half-smiles, that special twinkle in one's eye, without hearts filled with emotions (some that have no words to label them), you can not be fully beautiful, because you have yet to be fully formed.
I got this quote to remind me that my pain will lead me somewhere, hopefully somewhere better. That beauty is not skin deep. That I will be a better person for my suffering.
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Spring
This is Sophie's tattoo.
"You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming."
- Pablo Neruda
suddenly the troops beat a tattoo
This is Nick's tattoo:
The tattoo is a Dostoevsky quote, written in a letter explaining his mock execution in 1849. The full quote is as follows:
"They made us put on the white shirts worn by persons condemned to death. Thereupon we were bound in threes to stakes, to suffer execution. Being the third in the row, I concluded I had only a few minutes of life before me. I thought of you and your dear ones and I contrived to kiss [my friends] who were next to me, and to bid them farewell. Suddenly the troops beat a tattoo, we were unbound, brought back upon the scaffold, and informed that his Majesty had spared our lives."
The quote is just above my right elbow in fairly small, bookish sized font.
absurdity
This tattoo belongs to Presidentjamie.
The tattoo represents the two weeks in my life in 2010, in which both grandparents died, and my mother left, whom I haven't seen since. It also represents the intense feeling of absurdity I feel in work situations... like it's all one big funny game played by people who take it all far too seriously. The quote represents me perfectly.
"At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face."
- Albert Camus
a great poem
This tattoo belongs to Zachary Dean.
This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.
- Walt Whitman, preface to Leaves of Grass
Nothing is worth more
This tattoo belongs to Ryan:
I recently got the quote "Nothing is worth more than this day." by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe tattooed on my right shoulder in my seven year old daughter's handwriting. It has been one of my favorite quotes for a long time because it represents my beliefs and goals for life in a very precise way.
I am an Atheist so I do not believe in an afterlife. My time is limited and I must strive to live my life right and remember my priorities. My only immortality will be through my children and through my loved ones memories of my life.
I tend to be a workaholic and worrier by nature. I am easily consumed by details throughout the day as a working mother and lose sight of the big picture- that I have two beautiful, smart, funny, compassionate, young children that just want some quality play time and attention from their mama. This quote will serve as a constant reminder that work, errands and less worthy activities can wait.
Life is a play
This tattoo belongs to Fawn Foucha.
"Hope for the best. Expect the worst. Life is a play. We're unrehearsed."
- Mel Brooks
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