Omar Khayyám Quotes (94 quotes, page 2)

“The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes,
But Here or There as strikes the Player goes;
And He that toss'd you down into the Field,
He knows about it all — He knows — HE knows!”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Question

“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 Khayyám

As quoted in "A Paper of Omar Khayyam" by A.R. Amir-Moez in Scripta Mathematica 26 (1963). This quotation has often been abridged in various ways, usually ending with "Algebras are geometric facts which are proved", thus altering the context significantly.

Books , Thinking , Appearance

“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 scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

World

“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 Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

“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 Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Men , Hope , Light , Heart

“What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke
A conscious Something to resent the yoke
Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain
Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke!”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Pain , Pleasure , Penalty

“And when like her, oh, Saki, you shall pass
Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass,
And in your joyous errand reach the spot
Where I made One — turn down an empty Glass!”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Star , Grass

“Whose secret Presence, through Creation's veins
Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains;
Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi; and
They change and perish all — but He remains;”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Pain , Secret , Change

“And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die,
Lift not your hands to It for help — for It
As impotently moves as you or I.”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Help

“There was the Door to which I found no Key;
There was the Veil through which I might not see:
Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee
There was — and then no more of Thee and Me.”

Omar Khayyám

Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)

“But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Game , Night

“But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor
Of Earth, and up to Heav'n's unopening Door
You gaze To-day, while You are You — how then
To-morrow, You when shall be You no more?”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

“I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must,
Scared by some After-reckoning ta'en on trust,
Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink,
To fill the Cup — when crumbled into Dust!”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Life , Hope , Drink

“Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say;
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

“Some for the Glories of This World; and some
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come;
Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum!”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

World , Distant

“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 Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Love , Light

“With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead,
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:
And the first Morning of Creation wrote
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.”

Omar Khayyám

The Rubaiyat (1120)

Reading

“Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close!
The Nightingale that in the branches sang,
Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!”

Omar Khayyám

Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)

Youth , Spring

“Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before
I swore — but was I sober when I swore?
And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand
My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore.”

Omar Khayyám

Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)

Spring

“The Vine had struck a fibre: which about
If clings my being — let the Dervish flout;
Of my Base metal may be filed a Key,
That shall unlock the Door he howls without.”

Omar Khayyám

Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)

“Ah, but my Computations, People say,
Reduced the Year to better reckoning?”

Omar Khayyám

Khayyám measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days;
see Quotes about Khayyám below
Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)
Context: Nay
'Twas only striking from the Calendar
Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday.

People

“Would you that spangle of Existence spend
About the Secret — Quick about it, Friend!
A Hair perhaps divides the False and True —
And upon what, prithee, may life depend?”

Omar Khayyám

Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)

Life , Falseness , Secret , Dependency

“Ah, my Belov'ed fill the Cup that clears
To-day Past Regrets and Future Fears:
To-morrow!”

Omar Khayyám

Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
Source: The Rubaiyat (1120)

Past , Future , Fear