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“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.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

“I sometimes think the Pussy-Willows grey
Are Angel Kittens who have lost their way,
And every Bulrush on the river bank
A Cat-Tail from some lovely Cat astray.”
― Oliver Herford, The Rubáiyát of a Persian Kitten

“Of all my seeking this is all my gain:
No agony of any mortal brain
Shall wrest the secret of the life of man;
The Search has taught me that the Search is vain.”
― Omar Khayyam

“He [Omar Khayyam] is an atheist, but knows how to interpret in orthodox style the most difficult passages of the Koran; for every educated man is a theologian and faith is not a requisite.”
― Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Non-Fictions

“If wine is the enemy of religion, I shall devour the enemy of religion.”
― Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action: An Anthology of Important Papers

“Step outside on the terrace if you can't sleep in the heat. Don't be surprised if you find me there. The summer stars are spectacular. Just make sure you sleep near the half wall. Stay out of the sight line of the north tower. It would be scandalous if Uncle Solomon watched you sleep. You know, Islamic propriety and all. And by the way, you sleep about as quiet as an egg beater.”
― Michael Benzehabe, Persianality

“Inscribed on it was a verse from the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, the eleventh-century Persian mystic. Reading the words aloud I prepared for a most amazing journey:

The sages who have compassed sea and land,
Their secret to search out and understand,
My mind misgives me if they ever solve
The scheme on which the universe is planned.”
― Tahir Shah, Beyond the Devil's Teeth : Journeys in Gondwanaland

“I am the sun
I am the sea
I am the one
By infinity

I am the spark
I am the light
I am the dark
And I am the night

I am Iran
I am Xerxes
I am Zal’s son
And I am a beast

I am God’s own
Emissary
Colour my heart
Red, white and green

I am Ferdowsi
I am Hafez
I am Saadi
Rolled all in one breath

Ibn Sina
Omar Khayyam
Look at me now
Bundled in one

I am the present
I am the past
I am the future
My presence will last

I am Ismail
My soul is unleashed
‘Till the day at least
The sun sets in the east”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Letter 19

“To bind one free man with love is better than to release a thousand slaves.”
― Idries Shah, The Dermis Probe

“Dünyada olan biteni ben de görmedeyim;
Haksızları hep baş köşelerde görmedeyim;
Fesuphanallah! Nereye bakarsam bakayım
Kendi mutsuzluğumu her yerde görmedeyim.”
― Omar Khayyam

“The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on.”
― Omar Khayyam

“Enough of medical ethics. Let Uncle
Hippocrates rest in peace. It’s time to send an S.O.S to Uncle Omar Khayyam instead.”
― Anurag Shourie, Half A Shadow

“ქვეყნა�� რაიმ��, ქარი�� გარდ��, არ არსებულა,
რადგან ყოველი დაქცეულა, არ არსებულა,
არ არსებული არსებულა�� ჩათვალ��, ძმაო
არსებული კი მიიჩნი�� არარსებულა��”
― Omar Khayyám

“I despise the zeal of the devout, but I have never said that the One is two.
I am not one of those for whom faith is simply fear of judgement. How do I pray? I study a rose, I count the stars, I marvel at the beauty of the creation and how perfectly ordered it is, at man, the most beautiful work of the Creator, his brain thirsting for knowledge, his heart for love, and his senses, all his senses alert or gratified.”
― Amin Maalouf

“Cautivar a una persona libre con amor es mejor que liberar a mil esclavos.”
― Idries Shah, The Dermis Probe

“Si el vino es el enemigo de la religión, habré de devorar al enemigo de la religión.”
― Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action: An Anthology of Important Papers

“S'il n'avait gardé une dernière illusion, je me réclamerais volontiers d'Omar Khayyam, de ses tristesses sans réplique; mais il croyait encore au vin.”
― Emil Cioran, المياه كلها بلون الغرق

“And out my cup,
life keeps pouring out, it never stops ��
Like the autumn leaves;
breath by breath, they're falling off.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Letter 19

“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.”
― Jorges Luis Borges

“A book of verses, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread, now that’s divine.
The Rubaiyat, no longer an afterthought, I see the light!”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Letter 19

“Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı'nın araştırmalarından, Hayyam'ın (...) kendi eliyle yazılmış hiçbir yazısı bulunmadığını ve dörtlüklerinin ölümünden sonra şurda burda birer ikişer yazılıp toplu halde ancak onbeşinci yüzyıldan kalma kitaplarda görüldüğünü öğreniyoruz.”
― Sabahattin Eyüboğlu