Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as far as light excels darkness.

Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it will happen even to me, and why then was I more wise? Then said I in my heart that this also is vanity.

For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance forever, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how the wise man dies even as the fool!

I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live.

For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts, even one thing befalls them; as the one dies, so dies the other. Yea, they all have one breath, and man has no preeminence above the beasts; for all is vanity.

As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.

And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he that he labored for the wind?

For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yea, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.

For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense. But the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

Who is as the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

But it shall not be well with a wicked man, neither shall he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow, because he did not fear before God.

All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous man and to the wicked man, to the good man and to the clean man and to the unclean man, to him who sacrifices and to him who does not sacrifice, as is the good man,

As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, has perished long ago, nor have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

For man also does not know his time. As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error which proceeds from the ruler:

As thou know not what is the way of the wind, [nor] how the bones [grow] in the womb of her who is with child, even so thou know not the work of God who does all.

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened [by] the masters of assemblies. They have been given from one shepherd.