«אם אני לא בשביל עצמי מי יהיה בשבילי? עם זאת, אם אני רק בשביל עצמי, מה אני? ואם לא עכשיו, מתי?»	«Se io non sono per me, chi è per me? E se io sono solo per me stesso, cosa sono? E se non ora, quando?»
(R. Hillel, Pirkei Avot, I.14.)

А́нна Андре́евна Ахма́това

The time will come 

when, with elation 

you will greet yourself arriving 

at your own door, in your own mirror 

and each will smile at the other's welcome, 

and say, sit here. Eat. 

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart 

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you 

all your life, whom you ignored 

for another, who knows 

you by heart. 

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, 

the photographs, the desperate notes, 

peel your own image from the mirror. 

Sit. Feast on your life.”

― Derek Walcott, Collected Poems, 1948-1984