I've been a huge fan of both Neil Gaiman and The Sandman from the first moment I ever laid my hands on Preludes & Nocturnes. The entire series is filled with awesome quotes, but the one that means the most to me is by far "omnia mutantur, nihil interit", from the last book of the series, The Wake.
-Lord, what was it the barbarian said, as the riders vanished?
-Omnia mutantur, nihil interit. "Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost."
I've been meaning to get it as tattoo for the longest time EVER, and today I finally got it done!
It's all shiny because I just put some lotion on it. AND it looks wonky due to the way I'm holding my arm (I never knew how hard it is to try and take a picture of your own arm!) and because it's still all swollen, but it is perfect, if you ask me. There is a bit of a bigger gap between the letters U and T in the word mutantur, but it looks better in person. Also, the N on the same word looks a bit off because I have a small birthmark right underneath it. :P The font is a combination of a font called Sudestada, my handwriting and the tattoo artist's handwriting.
As you can see, my arm is full of self-injury scars, and for some reason getting this tattoo was very therapeutic for me. Everything changes, nothing perishes is a thought that I find oddly comforting - things will happen, time passes by, we all change, but the things that made us who we are today will never be forgotten.