Perry Rhodan needed a few seconds to recover from this surprising statement.
Then something happens between mugger and victim that raises the poem into a surprising statement of courage.
From a man who revels in moral ambiguities, this was a surprising statement.
It is a surprising statement to read in retrospect.
"I don't want to waste my time here on this earth," she once said to me, a surprising statement for such a young girl.
The surprising statement comes as Arabs close ranks against Damascus.
On the surface of it, this did not seem too surprising a statement.
He was not without a surprising statement or two.
Having silenced us all by this surprising statement, he went on in the same gentle, hesitant voice.
There was a silence after this surprising statement.