Omar Khayyám

Quotes

1. 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 for ever dies.

2. 

   You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse

   I made a Second Marriage in my house;

   Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed

   And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.

3. 

   Myself when young did eagerly frequent

   Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument

   About it and about: but evermore

   Came out by the same door as in I went.

4. 

   A moment guess'd — then back behind the Fold

   Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd

   Which, for the Pastime of Eternity,

   He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold.

5. 

   A Moment's Halt — a momentary taste

   Of from the Well amid the Waste —

   And Lo! — the phantom Caravan has reach'd

   The it set out from — Oh, make haste!

6. 

   '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.

7. 

   Then to the lip of this poor earthen Urn

   I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn:

   And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live

   Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return."

8. 

   Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare;

   To-morrow's Silence, Triumph, or Despair:

   Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why:

   Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

9. 

   Ah, but my Computations, People say,

   Reduced the Year to better reckoning? — Nay

   'Twas only striking from the Calendar

   Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday.

10. 

    Oh Thou who didst with Pitfall and with Gin

    Beset the Road I was to wander in,

    Thou wilt not with Predestination round

    Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin?

11. 

    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.

12. 

    The Grape that can with Logic absolute

    The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute.