“Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 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.”

— Omar Khayyam, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, trans. Edward FitzGerald, XCIII (1889)

About Omar Khayyam

1048 – 1131

Persian polymath and poet, whose quatrains were popularised in English by Edward FitzGerald.

“The Bird of Time has but a little way to fly—and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.”

“Whoever thinks algebra is a trick in obtaining unknowns has thought it in vain.”

“Ah, take the Cash in hand and wave the Rest; Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!”

“Love and what generates it. Rebellion and what creates it. Liberty and what nourishes it. Three manifestations of God.”

“They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.”

“If you are penitent, you love. And if you love you are of God. All things are atoned for, all things are saved by love.”

“But it has always happened that the more I detest men individually the more ardent becomes my love for humanity.”

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be.”

“Yet I argue not against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate one jot of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer right onward.”