Top 100 Khayyam Quotes
#1. He [Omar Khayyam] is an atheist, but knows how to interpret in orthodox style the most difficult passages of the Koran; for every educated man is a theologian and faith is not a requisite.
Jorge Luis Borges
#2. While the Rose blows along the River Brink, With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink: And when the Angel with his darker Draught Draws up to thee - take that, and do not shrink.
Omar Khayyam
#3. I was reading Omar Khayyam, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi, L. Ron Hubbard, all sorts of philosophy. Bebop cats are like that. Curious. I wanted to know about everything.
Quincy Jones
#4. I drink not from mere joy in wine nor to scoff at faith - no, only to forget myself for a moment, that only do I want of intoxication, that alone. - OMAR KHAYYAM
Ernest Becker
#5. Enough of medical ethics. Let Uncle
Hippocrates rest in peace. It's time to send an S.O.S to Uncle Omar Khayyam instead.
Anurag Shourie
#6. Come, fill the Cup, in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing
Omar Khayyam
#7. From the house of unbelief
to true religion
is a single breath;
From the world of doubt
to certainty
is a single breath;
Enjoy this precious single breath,
for the harvest
of our whole lives
is that same one breath.
Omar Khayyam
#9. So when that Angel of the darker Drink, at last shall find you by the river-brink,
And, offering his Cup, invite your Soul forth to your Lips to quaff-you shall not shrink.
Omar Khayyam
#10. There was a door to which I found no key: There was the veil through which I might not see.
Omar Khayyam
#11. Don't cry upon you losses
Don't mesure today with tommorows
Don't trust to passed and coming day
Believe in now - and be happy today.
Omar Khayyam
#13. Is it not folly, Spider-like to spin
The Thread of present Life away to win-
What? for ourselves, who know not if we shall
Breathe out the very Breath we now breathe in!
Omar Khayyam
#14. The entire world shall be populous with that action which saves one soul from despair.
Omar Khayyam
#15. The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd, Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd.
Omar Khayyam
#16. You've seen the world, and all you've seen is nothing; and everything, as well, that you have said and heard is nothing. You've sprinted everywhere between here and the horizon; it is nothing. And all the possessions you've treasured up at home are nothing.
Omar Khayyam
#17. Strange is the riddle of this life of ours!
Who knows the meaning of the heavenly powers?
Great Caesar's wounds bleed yearly in the rose,
And flower-like ladies turn again to flowers.
Omar Khayyam
#18. When you have planted
the rose of Love into your heart
your life has not been in vain.
Omar Khayyam
#19. To be free of belief and unbelief is my religion.
Omar Khayyam
#20. My tomb shall be in a spot where the north wind may scatter roses over it.
Omar Khayyam
#21. Oh what a long time we shall not be and the world will endure,
Neither name nor sign of us will exist;
Before this we were not and there was no deficiency,
After this, when we are not it will be the same as before.
Omar Khayyam
#22. Youth, like a magic bird, has flown away
He sang a little morning-hour in May
Sang to the rose, his love, that too is gone
Whither is more than you or I can say.
Omar Khayyam
#23. And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,
Lift not thy hands to it for help
for It
Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.
Omar Khayyam
#24. Hearts are like tapers, which at beauteous eyes Kindle a flame of love that never dies; And beauty is a flame, where hearts, like moths, Offer themselves a burning sacrifice.
Omar Khayyam
#25. Don't pursue happiness!
Life is as short as a sigh.
The dust of people that were once famous
turn with the reddish clay on the wheel you are
looking at. The universe is a fata morgana;
life is a dream.
Omar Khayyam
#26. Of threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise! One thing at least is certain - This Life flies; One thing is certain and the rest is
Omar Khayyam
#27. I can't reveal the mystery to either saint or sinner; I can't state at length what I've said curtly; I achieve an altered state that I can't explain; I have a secret that I cannot share.
Omar Khayyam
#28. You know, my friends, with what a brave carouse I made a Second Marriage in my house; favored old barren reason from my bed, and took the daughter of the vine to spouse.
Omar Khayyam
#29. Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter Garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly-and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.
Omar Khayyam
#30. Yes, the first morning of creation wrote what the last dawn of reckoning shall read.
Omar Khayyam
#32. To wisely live your life, you don't need to know much
Just remember two main rules for the beginning:
You better starve, than eat whatever
And better be alone, than with whoever.
Omar Khayyam
#35. The arch of heaven looks like an
upside-down cup, under which the wise
wander in vain. May your love for your beloved
be as great as the love of the bottle for the glass.
Look, how one gives and one receives, lip against
lip, the precious blood of the grapes.
Omar Khayyam
#36. Poor soul, you will never know anything
of real importance. You will not uncover
even one of life's secrets. Although all religions
promise paradise, take care to create your own
paradise here and now on earth.
Omar Khayyam
#37. Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit
Of This and That endeavor and dispute;
Better be merry with the fruitful Grape
Than sadden after none, or bitter, fruit.
Omar Khayyam
#38. Beyond the earth,
beyond the farthest skies
I try to find Heaven and Hell.
Then I hear a solemn voice that says:
Heaven and hell are inside.
Omar Khayyam
#39. Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd Of the Two Worlds so wisely - they are thrust Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn Are scattered, and their mouths are stopped with Dust.
Omar Khayyam
#40. It's too bad if a heart lacks fire,
and is deprived of the light
of a heart ablaze.
The day on which you are
without passionate love
is the most wasted day of your life.
Omar Khayyam
#41. I hide my grief, just like the blessed birds hide themselves when they are preparing to die, my love.
Omar Khayyam
#42. Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate; And many a Knot unravel'd by the Road; But not the Master-knot of Human Fate.
Omar Khayyam
#43. To bind one free man with love is better than to release a thousand slaves.
Idries Shah
#45. What shall I do, today? Visit the pub?
Sit down in a garden with a book? A bird
flies past. Where is it headed? It's out of
sight already. The drunkenness of a bird in the
burning azure. The melancholy of a man
in the cool shadow of a mosque.
Omar Khayyam
#46. Men talk of heaven, - there is no heaven but here;
Men talk of hell, - there is no hell but here;
Men of hereafters talk and future lives, -
O love, there is no other life - but here.
Omar Khayyam
#47. Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,
Is it not a Shame
is it not a Shame for him
So long in this Clay suburb to abide!
Omar Khayyam
#48. And this I know; whether the one True Light Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite, One flash of it within the Tavern caught Better than in the temple lost outright.
Omar Khayyam
#49. By Fate full many a heart has been undone, And many a sprightly rose made woe-begone; Plume thee not on thy lusty youth and strength: Full many a bud is blasted ere its bloom.
Omar Khayyam
#50. Yea! I believe that He who made the skies
Is wonderfully good, and very wise,
Beloved Friend! Hast thou never seen
The tears of pity gather in His eyes?
Omar Khayyam
#51. To-day is thine to spend, but not to-morrow; Counting on morrows breedeth bankrupt sorrow: O squander not this breath that Heaven hath lent thee; Make not too sure another breath to borrow.
Omar Khayyam
#52. I value the lover's
sighs of happiness and I despise the hypocrite
mumbling his prayers.
Omar Khayyam
#53. Close your Koran.
Think in freedom and look with open mind
at Heaven and Earth. Forgive everyone his sins. Don't cause anyone grief.
Omar Khayyam
#54. Tis all a Chequer-board of nights and days
Where Destiny with men for Pieces plays:
Hither and thither moves, and mates,and slays,
And one by one back in the closet lays.
Omar Khayyam
#55. Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.
Omar Khayyam
#56. We come into this world in the waters and leave it in the winds
Omar Khayyam
#57. Heaven has not learned of my arrival, and my departure will not in the least diminish it beauty and grandeur. I will sleep underground, for us ephemeral mortals, the only eternity is the moment and drinking to the moment is better than weeping for it.
Omar Khayyam
#58. Oh threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain - This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies -
The Flower that once has blown forever dies.
Omar Khayyam
#59. I sometimes think the Pussy-Willows grey
Are Angel Kittens who have lost their way,
And every Bulrush on the river bank
A Cat-Tail from some lovely Cat astray.
Oliver Herford
#60. When I want to understand what is happening today or try to decide what will happen tomorrow, I look back.
Omar Khayyam
#61. The value of three things is justly appreciated by all classes of men: youth, by the old; health, by the diseased; and wealth, by the needy.
Omar Khayyam
#62. Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,
And ev'n with Paradise devise the snake;
For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man
Is blackened - Man's forgiveness give and take!
Omar Khayyam
#63. Dawn filled the sky with roses. In the
crystal-clear air the last song of the nightingale
dies. The smell of the wine weakens. This is the moment
when fools dream of fame! How soft
is your hair, my beloved!
Omar Khayyam
#64. The rose that once has bloomed forever dies.
Omar Khayyam
#65. Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry.
Omar Khayyam
#66. We are in truth but pieces on this chess board of life,which in the end we leave,only to drop one by one into the grave of nothingness.
Omar Khayyam
#67. But leave the wise to wrangle and with me
the quarrel of the universe let be,
and in some corner of the hubbub couch't
make game of that which makes as much of thee
Omar Khayyam
#68. Of all my seeking this is all my gain:
No agony of any mortal brain
Shall wrest the secret of the life of man;
The Search has taught me that the Search is vain.
Omar Khayyam
#69. This body is a tent which for a space Does the pure soul with kingly presence grace; When he departs, comes the tent-pitcher, Death, Strikes it, and moves to a new halting-place.
Omar Khayyam
#70. How sad, a heart that
does not know how to love, that
does not know what it is to be drunk with love.
If you are not in love, how can you enjoy
the blinding light of the sun,
the soft light of the moon?
Omar Khayyam
#71. The Stars are setting and the Caravan Starts for the Dawn of Nothing-Oh, make haste!
Omar Khayyam
#72. Whoever thinks algebra is a trick in obtaining unknowns has thought it in vain. No attention should be paid to the fact that algebra and geometry are different in appearance. Algebras (jabbre and maqabeleh) are geometric facts which are proved by propositions five and six of Book two of Elements.
Omar Khayyam
#73. You know how little while we have to stay,
And, once departed, may return no more.
Omar Khayyam
#74. Indeed the Idols I have loved so long, have done my credit in this World much wrong; have drowned my Glory in a shallow Cup, and sold my Reputation for a Song.
Omar Khayyam
#75. When Allah created me, he knew that I
would drink a lot of wine. So if I didn't, the
omniscience of Allah would stand on its head.
Omar Khayyam
#76. Continuously, in commemoration of the Friend
We drank wine, even before the creation of the vine.
Idries Shah
#77. People talk about the Creator -
But surely he didn't create man only
to destroy him later! Because we are bad? And
who's to blame for that? Or because we are beautiful?
I can't make any sense of it.
Omar Khayyam
#78. Then said another -- "Surely not in vain
My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en,
That He who subtly wrought me into Shape
Should stamp me back to common Earth again.
Omar Khayyam
#79. Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and-sans End!
Omar Khayyam
#80. Be quiet, pain and sorrow!
Let me find a remedy. I have to live,
as once dead there is no memory. And I want
to see my love and be with her. And I
want to remember our being together.
Omar Khayyam
#81. One can no more set fire to the sea,
than convince people of the dangers of happiness - And yet, we know that though the smallest shock is fatal
to the filled up bottle, that shock will not break
the empty one.
Omar Khayyam
#82. This world
that was our home
for a brief spell
never brought us anything
but pain and grief;
its a shame that not one of our problems
was ever solved.
We depart
with a thousand regrets
in our hearts.
Omar Khayyam
#83. Scholars really have nothing to teach you.
But from the soft touch of the eyelashes of
a woman you will know all there is to know about happiness.
Omar Khayyam
#84. O friend, for the morrow let us not worry
This moment we have now, let us not hurry
When our time comes, we shall not tarry
With seven thousand-year-olds, our burden carry
Omar Khayyam
#85. Into this Universe, and why not knowing,
Nor whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing;
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.
Omar Khayyam
#86. A piece of bread,
some fresh water,
the shadow of a tree and your eyes, my beloved.
No sultan is happier than me,
no beggar more sad.
Omar Khayyam
#87. Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose! That Youths sweet-scented Manuscript should close!
Omar Khayyam
#88. Think not I dread to see my spirit fly,
Through the dark gates of fell mortality;
Death has no terrors when the life is true;
'Tis living ill that makes us fear to die.
Omar Khayyam
#89. There are too many tears in my eyes!
The fires of Hell are no more than sparks of fire
as compared to the flames that consume me inside.
Paradise? For me it means
a moment of peace.
Omar Khayyam
#90. Tis but a day we sojourn here below,
And all the gain we get is grief and woe,
Then, leaving our life's riddles all unsolved,
And burdened with regrets, we have to go.
Omar Khayyam
#91. My friend, let's not think of tomorrow, but let's enjoy this fleeting moment of life.
Omar Khayyam
#92. Girl, have you any thought what your eyes mean?
You must have stolen them from some dead queen.
O little empty laughing soul that sings
And dances, tell me
What do your eyes mean?
Omar Khayyam
#93. The secret must be kept from all non-people. The mystery must be hidden from all idiots.
Omar Khayyam
#94. The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon Turns Ashes - or it prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, Lighting a little hour or two - is gone.
Omar Khayyam
#95. I have not asked for life.
But I try to accept whatever
life brings without surprise.
And I shall depart again without having
questioned anyone about my strange
stay here on earth.
Omar Khayyam
#96. We shall perish
along the path of Love.
Fate will trample us. Yeah, tempting
young woman, get up and give me your lips
before I return to dust.
Omar Khayyam
#99. A Moment's Halt-a momentary taste
Of BEING from the Well amid the Waste-
And, Lo! the phantom Caravan has reach'd
The NOTHING it set out from. Oh, make haste!
Omar Khayyam
#100. Give me a flagon of red wine, a book of verses, a loaf of bread, and a little idleness. If with such store I might sit by thy dear side in some lonely place, I should deem myself happier than a king in his kingdom.
Omar Khayyam
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