Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.
“
| — | Charlotte Bronte |
Done at No Regrets in Tempe, Arizona by Eric Van Dyk
To Kill a Mockingbird holds a really special place in my heart.
I got this done at Needlewurks in Saratoga Springs, NY by a wonderful artist named Matt. The tattoo is inspired by the book, ‘The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky’. This tattoo holds so much meaning to me and its incredibly personal or else i would share the full meaning!
Tattoo done by Mike Prior at Lady Luck tattoo shop in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.
The words “Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.” are the last two lines from the poem Desiderata. I got it as a daily reminder to appreciate the little things, and to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.
“Love Is A Parallax,” is the title of a poem by Sylvia Plath. I love the notion that love shifts your perspective. I used parts of the last few verses in my vows.
“…love
knows not of death nor calculus above
the simple sum of heart plus heart.”
For heaven’s sake, I’m not yet a decrepit old fool.
“
| — |
Umberto Eco, from The Prague Cemetery (trans. Richard Dixon) |
Kurt Vonnegut was my grandpa’s favorite author. He got Alzheimer’s and I would read his books to him when I visited him. “Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt” was the only thing he could remember once the Alzheimer’s got bad.
The Giving Tree, black and white… the apple alone is red as an homage to another one of my favorite books, The Giver
And out again into the unplumb’d, salt, estranging sea.
“
| — | John Fowles, from The French Lieutenant’s Woman (thanks, toenterintothesebonds) |
This is my Harry Potter-inspired tattoo. I grew up reading those books and they will always be a huge part of my life. This tattoo means a lot to me :)
A day might be just twenty-four hours but sometimes getting through just one seems as impossible as scaling Everest.
“
| — | Gayle Forman, from If I Stay (submitted by doctormydoctor) |
“It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. I was so preposterously serious in those days, such a humorless little prig. Lightly, lightly – it’s the best advice ever given me. When it comes to dying even. Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic. No rhetoric, no tremolos, no self conscious persona putting on its celebrated imitation of Christ or Little Nell. And of course, no theology, no metaphysics. Just the fact of dying and the fact of the clear light. So throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling, on tiptoes and no luggage, not even a sponge bag, completely unencumbered.”
Aldous Huxley, Island (1962)
This is the final line, in the final book of the Harry Potter series, with the Deathly Hallows symbol forming the A. I tracked down the font used in the first editions and copied that so it would feel more genuine. This symbolises both endings and beginnings for me, and serves as a reminder of the magic of escapist literature.
