Here are some knuckle tattoo sayings to consider avoiding:
1. BORN TO LOSE. Some will put "born" on one hand, and "lose" on the other, while others will put the letter "t" on the thumb and the letter "o" on the other thumb, so when placed together it reads out the full born to lose saying. Besides the knuckle set up for this tattoo saying being imperfect, the saying itself can have some negative meaning. It's been shown that the born to lose tattoo is chosen 7 times more often than a born to win tattoo for those in prison. Generally this is a negative tattoo and when you have that idea ingrained on your skin and see it on a daily basis, the chances of you losing at life can increase. You are constantly re-enforcing to yourself that you were a loser from the beginning. If that's your feeling then one alternative could be to balance it out with a "born to lose" tattoo on the top, and a "live to win" tattoo on the bottom.
2. LOVE - HATE. Now while knuckle tattoos in general can be regretful due to their ever presence on the hands and some people get sick of the constant, instant attention that knuckle ink can bring, sometimes the sayings can make it worse by being misunderstood. While traditionally this symbolizes the struggle between good and evil, many people still don't recognize that. This won't and shouldn't bother the hardcore tattoo enthusiast, but for the average ink wearer the love-hate can be an intense message not understood by most. And it has been played out heavily as knuckle ink.
3. OZZY. Most of the knuckle Ozzy's we're inked on long ago in dull green homemade fashion, but there are some who want to be retro and will throw down the ozzy tat for their knuckles. They'll likely have the same regrets that the dull green knuckle inkers have today. Following or re-vitalizing a trend that seemed cool at the time, but 20 years later, not so much.