The human heart, in reality just a muscle, has been regarded as the seat of love since time immemorial, and has bee adapted into a symbol to encompass every kind of love that humans feel; love for people, places, or possessions are all attributed to the cardiac muscle and when a person is deprived of the object of his or her love, the heart is said to break. Sometimes, though, the heart continues on mot broken, but bitter at love's failure.

Because love does not always last, heart tattoos can often outlast the relationship which they are supposed to cement. Many a heart and love tattoo has been inscribed with the name of the beloved, only to have the beloved lost to circumstance or another lover. Of all the possible tattoos one can a get, the heart and love tattoo has the greatest chance of becoming a painful reminder of a happier past.

If you really want to get a heart and love tattoo, get one without a specific name on it. That way it can simply be a reminder of all the loves which have past through you life, and bring joy instead of pain.

If you really want your heart and love tattoo to be a compliment to the current love of your live, you can always find a temporary tattoo with the name of your current passion to add to the permanent heart, and replace the temporary tattoo as often as necessary. It may seem fickle, but it will save you the pain and expense of having a name from the past removed surgically.

Some of the more elaborate heart and love tattoos will have two hearts each with a name of one of the lovers, joined by Cupid's arrow; others are engulfed in the flames of passion; and some, done in the aftermath of romances gone bad, may be pierced like a pincushion or broken in two. Heart and love tattoos can portray the agony and ecstasy of the human condition with as much elegance or harshness as their wearers desire.

While the heart is far and way the most popular tattoo for portraying romantic feelings, there has been a significant increase in the number of celebrity couples getting love, or couples? tattoos, perhaps in a gesture against tabloid speculation about their relationships.

Couple love tattoos, will often incorporate song lyrics or passages from poetry or Scripture which are of special significance to the couple.

Couple love tattoos can be a very special sign of an enduring love, or they can be a painful reminder of a love gone wrong. Consider Britney Spears, and then you'll have a very clear picture of what can happen when an impermanent passion is immortalized n a permanent tattoo!