Omar Khayyam Quotes

“Alcohol makes other people less tedious, and food less bland, and can help provide what the Greeks called entheos, or the slight buzz of inspiration when reading or writing. The only worthwhile miracle in the New Testament—the transmutation of water into wine during the wedding at Cana—is a tribute to the persistence of Hellenism in an otherwise austere Judaea. The same applies to the seder at Passover, which is obviously modeled on the Platonic symposium: questions are asked (especially of the young) while wine is circulated. No better form of sodality has ever been devised: at Oxford one was positively expected to take wine during tutorials. The tongue must be untied. It's not a coincidence that Omar Khayyam, rebuking and ridiculing the stone-faced Iranian mullahs of his time, pointed to the value of the grape as a mockery of their joyless and sterile regime. Visiting today's Iran, I was delighted to find that citizens made a point of defying the clerical ban on booze, keeping it in their homes for visitors even if they didn't particularly take to it themselves, and bootlegging it with great brio and ingenuity. These small revolutions affirm the human.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

“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, The Rubáiyát of a Persian Kitten

“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

“Step outside on the terrace if you can't sleep in the heat. Don't be surprised if you find me there. The summer stars are spectacular. Just make sure you sleep near the half wall. Stay out of the sight line of the north tower. It would be scandalous if Uncle Solomon watched you sleep. You know, Islamic propriety and all. And by the way, you sleep about as quiet as an egg beater.”
― Michael Benzehabe, Persianality

“If wine is the enemy of religion, I shall devour the enemy of religion.”
― Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

“Inscribed on it was a verse from the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, the eleventh-century Persian mystic. Reading the words aloud I prepared for a most amazing journey:

The sages who have compassed sea and land,
Their secret to search out and understand,
My mind misgives me if they ever solve
The scheme on which the universe is planned.”
― Tahir Shah, Beyond The Devil's Teeth

“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, Selected Non-Fictions

“To bind one free man with love is better than to release a thousand slaves.”
― Idries Shah, The Dermis Probe

“Dünyada olan biteni ben de görmedeyim;
Haksızları hep baş köşelerde görmedeyim;
Fesuphanallah! Nereye bakarsam bakayım
Kendi mutsuzluğumu her yerde görmedeyim.”
― Omar Khayyam

“Si el vino es el enemigo de la religión, habré de devorar al enemigo de la religión.”
― Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

“The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.”
― Omar Khayyam

“Cautivar a una persona libre con amor es mejor que liberar a mil esclavos.”
― Idries Shah, The Dermis Probe

“S'il n'avait gardé une dernière illusion, je me réclamerais volontiers d'Omar Khayyam, de ses tristesses sans réplique; mais il croyait encore au vin.”
― Emil Cioran, المياه كلها بلون الغرق

“ქვეყნად რაიმე, ქარის გარდა, არ არსებულა,
რადგან ყოველი დაქცეულა, არ არსებულა,
არ არსებული არსებულად ჩათვალე, ძმაო
არსებული კი მიიჩნიე არარსებულად”
― Omar Khayyám

“I despise the zeal of the devout, but I have never said that the One is two.
I am not one of those for whom faith is simply fear of judgement. How do I pray? I study a rose, I count the stars, I marvel at the beauty of the creation and how perfectly ordered it is, at man, the most beautiful work of the Creator, his brain thirsting for knowledge, his heart for love, and his senses, all his senses alert or gratified.”
― Amin Maalouf

“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, Half A Shadow