Omar Khayyám Quotes (1048-1131)

Writer, Poet, Mathematician

About Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyam عمر خیام Persian (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, writer, and poet; originally named Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi Khayyámi (غیاث الدین ابو الفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابوری) Edward FitzGerald's translations of his poetic Rubaiyat (Quatrains) were immensely popular, and remain influential.

Best Omar Khayyám Quotes

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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Omar Khayyám quotes.

“Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say;
Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?
XII ”
“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.”
“Before the phantom of False morning died,
Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried,
"When all the Temple is prepared within,
Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?"”
“That ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare
Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air
As not a True-believer passing by
But shall be overtaken unaware. XCIII”
“Would but some wing'ed Angel ere too late
Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate,
And make the stern Recorder otherwise
Enregister, or quite obliterate! XCIX ”
“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness —
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
”
Omar Khayyám
“As under cover of departing Day
Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away,
Once more within the Potter's house alone
I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay. LXXXIII”
“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 where in I went. XXVIII”
Omar Khayyám
“Perplext no more with Human or Divine,
To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign,
And lose your fingers in the tresses of
The Cypress — slender Minister of Wine. XLII”
“Then of the Thee in Me works behind
The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find
A Lamp amid the Darkness; and I heard,
As from Without — "The Me Within Thee Blind!" XXXV”
Omar Khayyám
“"Well," Murmur'd one, "Let whoso make or buy,
My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry:
But fill me with the old familiar juice,
Methinks I might recover by and by". XCI”
“I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. X”
“Ah, my Belov'ed fill the Cup that clears
To-day Past Regrets and Future Fears:
To-morrow! — Why, To-morrow I may be
Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years. XXII”
Omar Khayyám
“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. XXX”
Omar Khayyám
“Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose,
And Jamshyd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;
But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine,
And many a Garden by the Water blows. VII”
“Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
Where the White Hand Of Moses on the Bough
Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. V”
“Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide,
And wash the Body whence the Life has died,
And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf,
By some not unfrequented Garden-side. XCII”
Omar Khayyám
“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. XIX”
“For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line
And "Up" and "Down" by Logic I define,
Of all that one should care to fathom,
Was never deep in anything but — Wine. LVII”
“What, without asking, hither hurried Whence?
And, without asking, Whither hurried hence!
Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine
Must drown the memory of that insolence! XXXI”
“And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,
Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape
Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and
He bid me taste of it; and 'twas — the Grape! LIX”
“Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through,
Not one returns to tell us of the Road,
Which to discover we must travel too. LXV”
Omar Khayyám
“And this reviving Herb whose tender Green
Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean —
Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows
From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen! XXI”
“Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,
And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,
Were't not a Shame — were't not a Shame for him
In this clay carcase crippled to abide? XLV”
Omar Khayyám
“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. LVI”
Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám Quotes by Topic

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Omar Khayyám on Life 7 quotes

“I came like Water, and like Wind I go.”
Omar Khayyám
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Omar Khayyám on History of algebra 3 quotes

“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
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Omar Khayyám on Death 2 quotes

“When you and I behind the Veil are past.”
Omar Khayyám
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Omar Khayyám on Pottery 2 quotes

“All this of Pot and Potter—Tell me then, Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?”
Omar Khayyám
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Omar Khayyám on Flowers 2 quotes

“One thing is certain and the rest is lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.”
Omar Khayyám
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Omar Khayyám on Dust 2 quotes

“Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.”
Omar Khayyám
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Omar Khayyám on Antinatalism 2 quotes

“I wouldn't have come had I had my say, Nor would I leave Here if I had my way; Ah, nothing better in this world could be Than not to come, nor be, not go away.”
Omar Khayyám
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Omar Khayyám on Wind

“I came like Water, and like Wind I go.”
Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám on Solitude

“Now the New Year reviving old Desires, The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires.”
Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám on Money

“Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum!”
Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám on Heaven

“Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire. And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire.”
Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám on Time

“The Bird of Time has but a little way To flutter — and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing”
Omar Khayyám

What Omar Khayyám Said About Others

Discover personal opinions Omar Khayyám shared regarding contemporaries.

Omar Khayyám on Muhammad 2 quotes

“O Thou! to please whose love and wrath as well, Allah created heaven and likewise hell; Thou hast thy court in heaven, and I have naught, Why not admit me in thy courts to dwell?”
Omar Khayyám
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Quotes About Omar Khayyám

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Maya Angelou on Omar Khayyám

“There are certain artists who belong to all the people, everywhere, all the time. The list of singers, musicians, and poets must include David the harpist from the Old Testament, Aesop the Storyteller, Omar Khayyam the Tent Maker, Shakespeare the Bard of Avon, Louis Armstrong the genius of New Orleans, Om Kalsoum the soul of Egypt, Frank Sinatra, Mahalia Jackson, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles....Celia Cruz...All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us all that we are more alike than we are unalike.”
Omar Khayyám

MacTutor biography on Omar Khayyám

“Khayyam measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days. Two comments on this result. Firstly it shows an incredible confidence to attempt to give the result to this degree of accuracy. We know now that the length of the year is changing in the sixth decimal place over a person's lifetime. Secondly it is outstandingly accurate. For comparison the length of the year at the end of the 19th century was 365.242196 days, while today it is 365.242190 days.”

About Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyam عمر خیام Persian (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, writer, and poet; originally named Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi Khayyámi (غیاث الدین ابو الفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابوری) Edward FitzGerald's translations of his poetic Rubaiyat (Quatrains) were immensely popular, and remain influential.