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.

Quotes



 * By the help of God and with His precious assistance, I say that Algebra is a scientific art. The objects with which it deals are absolute numbers and measurable quantities which, though themselves unknown, are related to "things" which are known, whereby the determination of the unknown quantities is possible. Such a thing is either a quantity or a unique relation, which is only determined by careful examination. What one searches for in the algebraic art are the relations which lead from the known to the unknown, to discover which is the object of Algebra as stated above. The perfection of this art consists in knowledge of the scientific method by which one determines numerical and geometric unknowns.
 * Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra (1070)


 * I was unable to devote myself to the learning of this algebra and the continued concentration upon it, because of obstacles in the vagaries of time which hindered me; for we have been deprived of all the people of knowledge save for a group, small in number, with many troubles, whose concern in life is to snatch the opportunity, when time is asleep, to devote themselves meanwhile to the investigation and perfection of a science; for the majority of people who imitate philosophers confuse the true with the false, and they do nothing but deceive and pretend knowledge, and they do not use what they know of the sciences except for base and material purposes; and if they see a certain person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool of him and mock him.
 * Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra (1070)


 * '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''.
 * 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.



The Rubaiyat (1120)

 * Quotations from the quatrains of Khayyám, as translated in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Fifth edition (1889) by Edward FitzGerald (unless otherwise noted).

I

The Stars before him from the Field of Night, Drives Night along with them from Heav'n, and strikes The Sultan's Turret with a Shaft of Light. Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light.
 * 'Wake!'' For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight
 * Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
 * FitzGerald's first edition (1859)

II

Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, "When all the Temple is prepared within, Why nods the drowsy Worshipper outside?" 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."
 * Before the phantom of False morning died,
 * Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky
 * FitzGerald's first edition (1859)

III

The Tavern shouted — "Open then the Door! You know how little while we have to stay, And, once departed, may return no more".
 * And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before

IV

The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, Where the White Hand Of Moses on the Bough Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.
 * Now the New Year reviving old Desires,

V

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.
 * Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose,

VII

Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing.'''
 * '''Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring

VIII

Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, '''The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.'''
 * Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,

IX

Yes, but where leaves the Rose of Yesterday?''' XII 
 * '''Each Morn a thousand Roses brings, you say;

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness — Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!''' A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness — And Wilderness is Paradise enow. The three make heaven for me; it may be thine Is some sour place of singing cold and bare — But then, I never said thy heaven was mine.'''
 * '''A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
 * Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
 * FitzGerald's first edition (1859)
 * '''A book, a woman, and a flask of wine:
 * As translated by Richard Le Gallienne (1897)
 * 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.
 * As translated by Justin McCarthy (1888)

XIII

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!'''
 * '''Some for the Glories of This World; and some

XVI

Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, Lighting a little hour or two — is gone.
 * The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon

XIX

The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled; That every Hyacinth the Garden wears Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head.
 * I sometimes think that never blows so red

X

Fledges the River-Lip on which we lean — Ah, lean upon it lightly! for who knows From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!
 * And this reviving Herb whose tender Green

XXI

To-day Past Regrets and Future Fears: To-morrow! — Why, To-morrow I may be Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years.
 * Ah, my Belov'ed fill the Cup that clears

XXII

That from his Vintage rolling Time hath prest, Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, And one by one crept silently to rest.
 * For some we loved, the loveliest and the best

XXIV

Before we too into the Dust descend'''; Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End!
 * Ah, '''make the most of what we yet may spend,

XXV

And those that after some To-morrow stare, A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries "Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There".
 * Alike for those who for To-day prepare,

XXVI

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.
 * Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd

XXVII

Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument About it and about: but evermore Came out by the same door where in I went.
 * Myself when young did eagerly frequent



XXVIII

And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow; And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — "I came like Water, and like Wind I go".
 * With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow,

XXIX

Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing; And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing.
 * Into this Universe, and Why not knowing

XXX

And, without asking, Whither hurried hence! Oh, many a Cup of this forbidden Wine Must drown the memory of that insolence!
 * What, without asking, hither hurried Whence?

XXXI

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.'''
 * '''Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate

XXXII

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.'''
 * '''There was the Door to which I found no Key;

XXXIV

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!"
 * Then of the Thee in Me works behind

XXXV

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".
 * Then to the lip of this poor earthen Urn

XLI

To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, And lose your fingers in the tresses of The Cypress — slender Minister of Wine.
 * Perplext no more with Human or Divine,

XLII

End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; Think then you are To-day what Yesterday You were — To-morrow You shall not be less.
 * And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press

XLIV

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?
 * Why, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside,

XLV

A Sultan to the realm of Death addrest; The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest.
 * 'Tis but a Tent where takes his one day's rest

XLVI

Account, and mine, should know the like no more; The Eternal Saki from that Bowl has pour'd Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour.
 * And fear not lest Existence closing your

XLVII

Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last, Which of our Coming and Departure heeds As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast.
 * When You and I behind the Veil are past,

XLVIII

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!
 * A Moment's Halt — a momentary taste

XLIX

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

L

Yes; and a single Alif were the clue — Could you but find it — to the Treasure-house, And peradventure to The Master too;'''
 * '''A Hair perhaps divides the False and True;

LI

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

LII

Immerst of Darkness round the Drama roll'd Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold.'''
 * '''A moment guess'd — then back behind the Fold

LIII

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?
 * But if in vain, down on the stubborn floor

LIV

Of This and That endeavour and dispute; Better be jocund with the fruitful Grape Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit.'''
 * '''Waste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit

LV

I made a Second Marriage in my house; Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.
 * You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse

LVI

And "Up" and "Down" by Logic I define, Of all that one should care to fathom, Was never deep in anything but — Wine.
 * For "Is" and "Is-not" though with Rule and Line

LVII

Reduced the Year to better reckoning? — Nay 'Twas only striking from the Calendar Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday.
 * Ah, but my Computations, People say,
 * Khayyám measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days;
 * see Quotes about Khayyám below

LVIII

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!
 * And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,

LIX

The Two-and-Seventy jarring Sects confute: The sovereign Alchemist that in a trice Life's leaden metal into Gold transmute: '''
 * '''The Grape that can with Logic absolute

LX

That all the misbelieving and black Horde Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul Scatters before him with his whirlwind Sword. LXI
 * The mighty Mahmud, Allah-breathing Lord

Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare? A Blessing, we should use it, should we not? And if a Curse — why, then, Who set it there?
 * Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare

LXII

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!
 * I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must,

LXIII

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. ''' To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies; One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.
 * '''Oh, threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
 * Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise
 * FitzGerald's first edition (1859)

LXIV

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.
 * Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who

LXV

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.
 * The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd

LXVI

Some letter of that After-life to spell: And by and by my Soul return'd to me, And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell:" '''
 * '''I sent my Soul through the Invisible,

LXVII

And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire, Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves, So late emerged from, shall so soon expire.'''
 * '''Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,

LXVIII

Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go ''' Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held In Midnight by the Master of the Show;
 * '''We are no other than a moving row

LXIX

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.
 * But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays

LX

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!
 * The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes,

LXXI

Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.'''
 * '''The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

LXXII

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.'''
 * '''And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,

LXXIII

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.'''
 * '''With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead,

LXXIV

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.'''
 * '''Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare;

LXXVI

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.'''
 * The Vine had struck a fibre: which about

LXXVII

Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite, One Flash of It within the Tavern caught Better than in the Temple lost outright.'''
 * '''And this I know: whether the one True Light

LXXVIII

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

LXXIX

Pure Gold for what he lent him dross-allay'd — Sue for a Debt he never did contract, And cannot answer — Oh, the sorry trade!'''
 * '''What! from his helpless Creature be repaid

LXXX

Beset the Road I was to wander in, Thou wilt not with Predestined Evil round Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin!'''
 * '''Oh, Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin

LXXXI

And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd — Man's forgiveness give — and take!'''
 * '''Oh, Thou who Man of baser Earth didst make,

LXXXII

Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away, Once more within the Potter's house alone I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.
 * As under cover of departing Day

LXXXIII

That stood along the floor and by the wall; And some loquacious Vessels were; and some Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all.
 * Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small,

LXXXIV

My substance of the common Earth was ta'en And to this Figure moulded, to be broke, Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again".
 * Said one among them — "Surely not in vain

LXXXV

Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy, And He that with his hand the Vessel made Will surely not in after Wrath destroy".
 * Then said a Second — "Ne'er a peevish Boy

LXXXVI

Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make; "They sneer at me for leaning all awry: What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"'''
 * '''After a momentary silence spake

LXXXVII

I think a Sufi pipkin-waxing hot — "All this of Pot and Potter — Tell me then, Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"
 * Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot —

LXXXVIII

Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell The luckless Pots he marr'd in making — Pish! He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well".
 * "Why," said another, "Some there are who tell

LXXXIX

My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry: But fill me with the old familiar juice, Methinks I might recover by and by".
 * "Well," Murmur'd one, "Let whoso make or buy,

XCI

And wash the Body whence the Life has died, And lay me, shrouded in the living Leaf, By some not unfrequented Garden-side.
 * Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide,

XCII

Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air As not a True-believer passing by But shall be overtaken unaware.
 * That ev'n my buried Ashes such a snare

XCIII

Have done my credit in this World much wrong: Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup And sold my Reputation for a Song.'''
 * '''Indeed the Idols I have loved so long

XCIV

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.
 * '''Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before

XCV

And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, I wonder often what the Vintners buy One half so precious as the stuff they sell.'''
 * '''And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel,

XCVI

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

XCVIII 

Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, And make the stern Recorder otherwise Enregister, or quite obliterate!
 * Would but some wing'ed Angel ere too late

XCIX 

To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits — and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!'''
 * '''Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire

C

How oft hereafter will she wax and wane; How oft hereafter rising look for us Through this same Garden — and for one in vain!
 * Yon rising Moon that looks for us again —

CI

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!
 * And when like her, oh, Saki, you shall pass


 * Quotations from Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: A Paraphrase From Several Literal Translations (1897) by Richard Le Gallienne.

If Allah be, He keeps His secret well; &emsp;What He hath hidden, who shall hope to find? Shall God His secret to a maggot tell? … The Koran! well, come put me to the test— Lovely old book in hideous error drest— &emsp;Believe me, I can quote the Koran too, The unbeliever knows his Koran best.
 * Allah, perchance, the secret word might spell;

And do you think that unto such as you, A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew, &emsp;God gave the secret, and denied it me?— Well, well, what matters it! believe that too.
 * Not a literal translation of Omar Khayyám's work, but a paraphrase according to Richard Le Gallienne own understanding, as stated in Le Gallienne's Paraphrase and the Limits of Translation by Adam Talib, pp. 175-176.

Quotes about 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.
 * Maya Angelou Letter to My Daughter (2009)


 * 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.
 * MacTutor biography by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson