I love literary tattoos, I even have one. For the book lover, it is like taking a moment from a story and making it a part of you. My own tattoo is from Lord of the Rings and reads, “Not all those who wander are lost.” LOTR is one of my favorite stories, it helped introduce me to the genre, and I spend a lot of time wandering both literally and figuratively. That is why it speaks to me. I have included a bunch of photos from my Pinterest that I have found beautiful. Tell me what you think.
I’ll eat you up I love you so.
Climate change makes me think of The Lorax and how we have so much to protect.
(via @cinderhellaaa)
In the end, isn’t this all we have?
(via @littlemisssunshineyday)
Shel meant so much to me as a child.
Link
I think of this quote often when I have much to do.
Link
I wrote this on a slip of paper and put it inside my grandfather’s casket.
Still I Rise
BY MAYA ANGELOU
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
I think if someone described me as a hurricane I could be happy with my life.
Dune’s words never rang so true as they do now.
I have to end on a little Harry Potter love. Because why not? The word “Always” means so much to us lovers of the J.K Rowlings worlds.
I don’t think I heard of the Walt Disney quote on the last picture. To me it feels freeing. I also like the last tattoo. For me it represents the power of the writers’ imaginations, how they created different worlds for readers, and how they’ve become so meaningful. Thank you for sharing! I don’t know that I’ll ever be brave enough to get a tattoo, but I think it’s amazing how lines have so much power and how they have special, personal meaning to all of us 🙂
Exactly! Words have power and it sure is wonderful to be able to take a little bit of that power with you everywhere you go. That’s why I got mine, makes me think of the book.
These are lovely! Have you considered adding a picture of your own tattoo? I’d love to see it.
Sure! I’ll get the hubs to take one. 😁
Cool. 😀
Love this!
So many gorgeous tattoo ideas! I have a literary tattoo as well! I love the… is it a gruffalo? I want a gruffalo tattoo… They’re adorable.
What’s yours of?
One of the illustrations from a Joan Aiken book – I loved her books when I was little
Love this post. I’m contemplating a book tattoo. I love the ones here. Love the signposts
I love the signposts too. It covers so many wonderful books.
Yeah it can be very personal.
My next tattoo (it will be my third) is going to be my favorite book quote.
I love these!
They are so pretty! I only have one tattoo and it is a quote. I think all i am going to get is quotes.
What’s the quote, if you don’t mind answering?
Not all those who wander are lost 🙂
Some nice ink there.
I’ve got 2 literary tattooes–the Hitchhiker’s Guide planet logo thing, and a line from To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ve thought about trying something like that signpost, but not sure that I’d be able to choose what places to go on the sign–ripe for so much second-guessing.
You can get them done as a temporary tattoo and try out a few spots beforehand. I have a lord of the rings tattoo at the moment, but I would love to get a few more literary ones.
Plus, you have to love Hitchhikers. I have thought many times of getting the whale.
I’ve thought about getting the whale, too 🙂 Very appealing.
I love that Maya Angelou poem. Another of her poems inspired my current wip. (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)
Fun post.
Sue
https://susanberkkoch.com/blog/beacons-of-hope/
She was a legend. Phenomenal woman is a gorgeous poem too