179 quotes
On that dread day when wrath shall rend the sky,
And darkness dim the bright stars’ galaxy,
I’ll seize the Loved One by the skirt and cry,
‘Why hast thou doomed these guiltless ones to die?’
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Of threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain — This Life flies.
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
Would you that spangle of Existence spend
About the Secret — Quick about it, Friend!
A Hair perhaps divides the False and True —
And upon what, prithee, may life depend?
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow,
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."
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
I saw a busy potter by the way
Kneading with might and main a lump of clay;
And lo! the clay cried ‘Use me tenderly,
I was a man myself but yesterday.’
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
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!
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,
One moment, of the Well of Life to taste —
The Stars are setting, and the Caravan
Starts for the dawn of Nothing — Oh, make haste!
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
And this I know: whether the one True Light,
Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,
One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
But here are wine and beautiful young girls,
Be wise and hide your Sorrows in their curls,
Dive as you will in life's mysterious sea,
You shall not bring us any better pearls.
Le Gallienne, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1897)
Whilom, ere youth’s conceit had waned, me thought
Answers to all life’s problems I had wrought;
But now, grown old and wise, too late I see
My life is spent, and all my lore is nought.
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Down rain the tears from skies enwrapt in gloom
Without this wine the tulips could not bloom.
As now these flowerets yield delight to me
So shall my dust yield flowers, God knows for whom.
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
We come and go, but for the gain, where is it?
And spin life’s woof, but for the warp, where is it?
And many a righteous man has burned to dust
In heaven’s blue rondure, but their smoke where is it?
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Nor you nor I can read the etern decree
To that enigma we can find no key
They talk of you and me behind the veil
But if the veil be lifted, where are we?
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
I came like Water, and like Wind I go.
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1120)
And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,
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.
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1120)
Whether at Naishapur or Babylon,
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.
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
A Moment's Halt — a momentary taste
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!
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
"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."
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)
So many cups of wine will I consume
Its bouquet shall exhale from out my tomb;
And every one that passes by shall halt,
And reel and stagger with that mighty fume.
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate
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.
FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859)