Hat tip to our friends at Ducks and Drakes for this cool little blog: Contrariwise: Literary Tattoos.
Here’s a little sample of the sort of thing you’d see over there:
Very popular are Le Petit Prince, Dr. Seuss, and this quotation from Kurt Vonnegut, “Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.” Also, Sylvia Plath and E.E. Cummings (shoot, that was my idea!). My favorite might have been a tattoo of Harriet the Spy.
Which got me to thinking: is there a literary quotation that I connect with so much that I’d want to have permanently engraved on my skin? I’m still thinking . . . meanwhile, I’d be interested to hear your ideas (and gosh, if you actually have one, let’s hear about that, too!).
I’ve always been fond of A.E. Waite’s quote:
“It is difficult to say any longer that we walk in the shadow of death when the darkness is sown with stars.”
Comment by David — July 28, 2008 @ 9:15 am |
I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine. – Song of Solomon
or another good one is “First, Do No Harm” but in latin. it’s so much cooler!
Comment by static monkey — July 28, 2008 @ 9:14 pm |
I would very much love to have that tattoo as well. Thanks for the idea.
Comment by undernews — July 28, 2008 @ 11:53 pm |
Oh, man, this post is dangerous for me. For years I’ve been simultaneously wanting and fearing to get a tattoo. YEARS. What I’m jonesing for now is a Caslon ornamental flower from the eighth edition of the “Chicago Manual of Style.” I know that may not count as a literary tattoo, but boy howdy, those Caslon flowers are gorgeous and so . . . so . . . editorial!
Comment by Editrix — July 30, 2008 @ 2:31 pm |
j. alfred prufrock…. a wonderful poem and a nice tattoo. actually this was one of the more profound passages from the poem. nice.
Comment by kirby — November 6, 2008 @ 12:48 am |
well i have my fathers signature tattooed on my lower back ( i know i know, odd tramp stamp right) eventually i am going to have angles wings tih stars behind them, the stars skin tone and the surrounding area shaded lightly and this quote under my fathers name
“without the dark, we’d never see the stars”
Comment by Carly — October 6, 2009 @ 1:28 pm |