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Omar Khayyam Quotes

Browse 7 quotes about Omar Khayyam.

Omar Khayyam Quotes

“Alcohol makes other people less tedious, and food less bland, and can help provide what the Greeks called entheos, or the slight buzz of inspiration when reading or writing. The only worthwhile miracle in the New Testament—the transmutation of water into wine during the wedding at Cana—is a tribute to the persistence of Hellenism in an otherwise austere Judaea. The same applies to the seder at Passover, which is obviously modeled on the Platonic symposium: questions are asked (especially of the young) while wine is circulated. No better form of sodality has ever been devised: at Oxford one was positively expected to take wine during tutorials. The tongue must be untied. It's not a coincidence that Omar Khayyam, rebuking and ridiculing the stone-faced Iranian mullahs of his time, pointed to the value of the grape as a mockery of their joyless and sterile regime. Visiting today's Iran, I was delighted to find that citizens made a point of defying the clerical ban on booze, keeping it in their homes for visitors even if they didn't particularly take to it themselves, and bootlegging it with great brio and ingenuity. These small revolutions affirm the human.”

WritingInspirationReligionReadingChristianityAtheismFoodWineAlcoholBoredomIranBrotherhoodPlatoMiraclesNew TestamentOxfordMullahsAncient GreeksHellenismPassoverOmar KhayyamPassover SederCanaEntheosJudaeaMarriage At CanaSymposia
Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir
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“Rubaiyat Revină-n glasul meu persanul vers Spre a ne aminti că timpul-i un divers Mod de-a urzi avide visuri vane, În taine risipite-n univers. Din nou să spună că țărână-i focul, Țărână-i trupul, și că asta-i jocul: Viața mea și-a ta sunt râu ce curge Necontenit și repede-n tot locul. Și că impunătorul monument Zidit cu trudă, din trufie, lent, Un vânt fugar e numai, că-n lumina Lui Dumnezeu un veac e un moment. ... Te rog, persană lună, să revii, Și voi, incerte-apusuri aurii. Azi e ieri. Nu ește decât ceilalți. Tărână-i chipul lor. Cu morții-învii.”

PoetryStoicismBorgesClassicismOmar Khayyam
Author:Jorges Luis Borges
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