We are all tattooed in our cradles with the beliefs of our tribe; the record may seem superficial, but it is indelible.

—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr

Quirky is sexy, like scars or chipped teeth. I also like tattoos — they’re rebellious.

 —Jennifer Aniston

Tattoo. What a loaded word it is, rife with associations to goons, goofs, bikers, tribal warriors, carnival artists, drunken sailors, and floozies.

 —Jon Anderson

There is no “underground” community, no dark den of drunken sailors initiating themselves into manhood via cheap, ill-conceived exercises in bodily perforation; it’s just a group of people who delight in using their bodies as billboards.

—Joanne McCubrey

Show me a man with a tattoo and I’ll show you a man with an interesting past.

 —Jack London

You may lose your most valuable property through misfortune in various ways. You may lose your house, your wife and other treasures. But of your moko, you cannot be deprived except by death. It will be your ornament and companion until your last day.

 —Netana Whakaari of Waimana

I always look for a woman who has a tattoo. I see a woman with a tattoo, and I’m thinking, okay, here’s a gal who’s capable of making a decision she’ll regret in the future.

 —Richard Jeni

A man without tattoos is invisible to the gods.

 —Iban Proverb

Good tattoos aren’t cheap and cheap tattoos aren’t good.

—anonymous

Primitive tribes were certainly convinced that the spirit, having escaped from the body at death, retained a replica of its earthly tenement. They therefore used tattoo marks as a means of identification in the next world and a passport to future happiness.

—Ronald Scutt

The perfect tattoo... the one I believe we are all struggling toward... is the one that turned the jackass into a zebra.

 —Cliff Raven

Tattoos exude pain and pleasure all at the same time.

—Chester Bennington

I want to get a tattoo of myself on my entire body, only two inches taller.

—Steven Wright