Category: tattoo

Man and Scorpion

Photographer Unknown, (Man and Scorpion)

“With no power to annul the elemental evil in him, though readily enough he could hide it; apprehending the good, but powerless to be it; a nature like Claggart’s, surcharged with energy as such natures almost invariably are, what recourse is left to it but to recoil upon itself and, like the scorpion for which the Creator alone is responsible, act out to the end the part allotted it.”
― Herman Melville

Karl Ove Knausgaard: “Even Though the Suitcase Was Heavy”

Two Trunks and a Suitcase

“Even though the suitcase was heavy I carried it by the handle as I walked into the departure hall. I detested the tiny wheels, first of all because they were feminine, thus not worthy of a man, a man should carry, not roll, secondly because they suggested easy options, shortcuts, savings, rationality, which I despised and opposed wherever I could, even where it was of the most trivial significance. Why should you live in a world without feeling its weight? Were we just images? And what were we actually saving energy for with these energy-saving devices?”

― Karl Ove Knausgaard

Neil Gaiman: “. . .If You Are Willing to be Jaunty”

Photographer Unknown, Title Unknown, (Black Hats and Sacred Hearts)

“Some hats can only be worn if you’re willing to be jaunty, to set them at an angle and to walk beneath them with a spring in your stride as if you’re only a step away from dancing. They demand a lot of you.”

― Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys

Jack Kerouac: “Like the Fabulous Roman Candles”

Photographer Unknown, Leather and Metal

“[…]the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes “Awww!” 

—Jack Kerouac, On the Road

Annie Proulx: “Nothing Was Left But What He Held In His Hands”

Twelve Faces to Remember

“He pressed his face into the fabric and breathed in slowly through his mouth and nose, hoping for the faintest smoke and mountain sage and salty sweet stink of Jack but there was no real scent, only the memory of it, the imagined power of Brokeback Mountain of which nothing was left but what he held in his hands.”

–Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain

 

The Griffin

Photographer Unknown, (The Griffin)

“As when a Gryfon through the Wilderness

With winged course ore Hill or moarie Dale,
Pursues the ARIMASPIAN, who by stelth
Had from his wakeful custody purloind
The guarded Gold. . . .”                                                                                                  -John Milton, Paradise Lost