Paul Celan

my favorite two quotes from Paul Celan are:

Ich bin du wenn ich ich bin (1)

and

In den Flüssen nördlich der Zukunft
werft ich das Netz aus, das du zögernd beschwerst
mit von Steinen geschriebenen Schatten.(2)

David Cayley has written a book with/for Ivan Illich called "The Rivers North of the Future" http://www.anansi.ca, the title is the first line of the english translation:

Into the Rivers North of the Future
I cast out the net, that you
hesitently burden with
stone-engraved shadows

Celan and Illich had much in common including: 
they both won prizes from the city of Bremen

"Only in the mother tongue can one speak his own truth." (3)

My favorite french translation of the above are:

"je suis toi quand je suis moi" (4)

et

Dans les fleuves au nord du futur,
je lance le filet
qu'hésitant(e) tu alourdis
d'ombres écrites par des pierres.(5)

(1) "I am thou when I am myself" or "I am you, when I am: I"
note the reference to "I am who am" in Deuteronomy
taken from "Lob Der Ferne" Mohn und Gedächtnis
(2) taken from "AtemKristalll" oct 1963
(3) www.webdelsol.com/InPosse/rakow-celan12.htm
(4) or "je suis toi quand moi suis moi"
membres.lycos.fr/toto_zero/Celan.html(5) i could only find it in google's cache