Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

If life is meaningless, why not enjoy its simple pleasures? If Epicurus had read what this Persian philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, and poet had written, he probably would have approved of it.

Omar Khayyam, through the brilliant English poetic voice that Edward FitzGerald lent him, speaks to us in a way that few are capable of. Realizing how incapable to provide any substantial answers any philosophical attempt is, what else can you conclude than a sort of Epicureanism that takes being alive as everything you will ever get, and that your enjoyments, sparse as they are, should be praised? If you have no metaphysical expectations beyond this life and experiences, Omar will speak directly to you. If you have a different set of beliefs, he might offend you, as he has many others throughout history. In any case, you won't feel indifferent to his thoughts. And thanks to Edward FitzGerald's translation, you will find in the words and their musicality the joys of the wine that Omar repeatedly praises.