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

— Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (FitzGerald translation, 1868)

About Omar Khayyam

1048 – 1131

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

“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!”

“The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

“Youth comes but once in a lifetime.”

“Time, in its stealthy gliding, cheats us all without our notice; nothing goes more swiftly than do the years.”

“Years following years steal something ev'ry day. At last they steal us from ourselves away.”

“The young have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations.”

“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”