Indelible

ɪnˈdɛləbəl

adjective

making marks that cannot be removed; not able to be forgotten or removed

The word 'indelible' comes from the Latin word 'indelibilis,' which means 'cannot be erased.' It is often used to describe something that leaves a lasting impression or mark that cannot be easily forgotten or removed.

There are, however, three things which the French can still boast of with pride as their heritage and possession, and as indelible tokens of their ancient intellectual superiority in Europe, in spite of all voluntary or involuntary Germanizing and vulgarizing of taste.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Beyond Good and Evil

Each step he trod oppressed his heart with fresh emotion; his first and most indelible recollections were there; not a tree, not a street, that he passed but seemed filled with dear and cherished memories.

Alexandre Dumas

The Count of Monte Cristo

Six years had elapsed, passed in a dream but for one indelible trace, and I stood in the same place where I had last embraced my father before my departure for Ingolstadt.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus

Lastly at the head of the board was the young poet who found a refuge from his labours of pedagogy and metaphysical inquisition in the convivial atmosphere of Socratic discussion, while to right and left of him were accommodated the flippant prognosticator, fresh from the hippodrome, and that vigilant wanderer, soiled by the dust of travel and combat and stained by the mire of an indelible dishonour, but from whose steadfast and constant heart no lure or peril or threat or degradation could ever efface the image of that voluptuous loveliness which the inspired pencil of Lafayette has limned for ages yet to come.

James Joyce

Ulysses

We must, therefore, either give up the belief of the universal sterility of species when crossed; or we must look at this sterility in animals, not as an indelible characteristic, but as one capable of being removed by domestication.

Charles Darwin

The Origin of Species

Anyway she succeeded in completely reestablishing Dounia’s reputation and the whole ignominy of this affair rested as an indelible disgrace upon her husband, as the only person to blame, so that I really began to feel sorry for him; it was really treating the crazy fellow too harshly.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment

His robe, which spots indelible besmear, In rags dishonest flutters with the air: A stag's torn hide is lapp'd around his reins; A rugged staff his trembling hand sustains; And at his side a wretched scrip was hung, Wide-patch'd, and knotted to a twisted thong.

Homer

The Odyssey

The ink is indelible until 22:00--Bathing.

Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay

The unison of opposites to prove, Of the soft wax and diamond hard am I; But still, obedient to the laws of love, Here, hard or soft, I offer you my breast, Whate’er you grave or stamp thereon shall rest Indelible for all eternity.548 With an “Ah me!” that seemed to be drawn from the inmost recesses of his heart, the Knight of the Grove brought his lay to an end, and shortly afterwards exclaimed in a melancholy and piteous voice, “O fairest and most ungrateful woman on earth!

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Don Quixote

You expected battle casualties to show that ultimate evidence of common humanity—flowing red that darkened on exposure but always left its indelible mark in the memories of those who saw it.

Frank Herbert

Chapterhouse: Dune