What kind of tattoo should I get to convey this meaning?

Hmm, I’m not sure I like the idea of mixing languages on one tattoo. I think that would look kind of weird.

well I’m also playing with that piece a little too… I would like to incorporate both ideas however only if it doesn’t look forced or as you have pointed out, weird

I don’t know if your a guy or a girl, nut a butterfly emerging from a cocoon could work if you’re a girl.

I might consider an image of unfettered motion—perhaps a bird in flight—maybe not an eagle since that is pretty clicheed. Maybe something like an egret flying over a marsh. Or if you are a water type, a dolphin or some other elegant fish (I know dolphin is not a fish). The water imagery could be a play on the words pura vida. If you did a whale it could play of the free willy concept, although that’s probably a bit tacky. If it was me, I’d do the egret thing, with a scene of the egret over the marsh, not just the egret with wings spread.

This is on the sole of your foot? Isn’t that a kind of painful place for a tattoo?

I can’t imagine a tattoo lasting very long on the bottom of your foot. The turnover for skin on certain parts of the body is quicker than other areas, and the sole of your foot would probably leave you with a very spotty tattoo in a short period of time. The integrity of the tattoo would be compromised really quickly, compared to other parts of the body…. are you aware of this? Even if parts of it really do last “forever,” it won’t hold up as you’re thinking most tattoos will.
I would suggest, for a tattoo you’re putting this much thought into, another part of the body.

You know… if you want a tattoo on your foot that has meaning (and perhaps I got the idea from your shamrock avatar…) you should do something like:

An áit a bhuil do chroí is ann a thabharfas do chosa thú.

It means “Your feet will bring you to where your heart is.” You could do it in a pretty, Gaelic looking script or something. But I agree with @ANef_is_Enuf and would suggest at least considering the top of your foot instead of the bottom.

@WillWorkForChocolate: Wouldn’t your adage require a really big foot?

@gailcalled Not if you have it done in a smallish script, in 3–4 lines on the top of your foot. You’d be surprised how much they have to blow the letters up to make large scripts. For my daughters’ names, I think my artist blew the letters up to like 400% or something.

I bet that your daughter has fewer than An áit a bhuil do chroí is ann a thabharfas do chosa thú. characters in her name. (Although that is a lovely thought and sounds very melodious in the Gaelic.)

Well yes, lol, but the concept is still the same. They had to blow the letters up a lot for mine, so if they used the normal size of the letters or maybe just a little bit smaller, they could fit the saying on her foot if they scripted it in 3 lines, like:

An áit a bhuil do chroí
is ann a thabharfas
do chosa thú

I think he meant :
“set it free”

“Image”

With the word “pura vida” on the bottom of the tattoo, not on the bottom of his foot.

@Judi ahh, rereading it, I think you may be right.

LOL, whoops.

well first I’m a girl lol, and yes I’m getting it all on the top of my foot.
@WillWorkForChocolate – that’s a great quote, I wasn’t planning on getting something else however I do have a shamrock already on that foot on the inside of my ankle.

Since you’re s girl, the butterfly emerging would be good, also for the symbolism, that true freedom comes from yourself.
Anyone who has ever tried to free a butterfly from a cocoon knows that they will die without the painful process of breaking free on their own.