I concluded that wisdom is more useful than foolishness, just as light is more useful than darkness.

For neither the wise nor the fool will be long remembered, since in days to come everything will be forgotten. The wise man dies the same way as the fool, does he not?

For sometimes people who strive to obtain wisdom, knowledge, and equity leave everything as an inheritance to a person who never worked for it. This, too, is pointless and greatly troublesome.

"As for human beings," I told myself, "God puts them to the test, that they might see themselves as mere animals."

For what happens to people also happens to animals a single event happens to them: just as someone dies, so does the other. In fact, they all breathe the same way, so that a human being has no superiority over an animal. All of this is pointless.

So I commended the dead who had already died as being happier than the living who are still alive.

Just as he came naked from his mother's womb, he will leave as naked as he came; he will receive no profit from his efforts he cannot carry away even a handful.

This is also a painful tragedy: However a person comes, he also departs; so what does he gain as he labors after the wind?

For as thorns burn to heat a pot, so also is the laughter of the fool even this is pointless.

Never ask "Why does the past seem so much better than now?" because this question does not come from wisdom.

When times are good, be joyful; when times are bad, consider this: God made the one as well as the other, so people won't seek anything outside of his best.

Wisdom given as strength to a wise person is better than having ten powerful men in the city.

Just as no human being has control over the wind to restrain it, so also no human being has control over the day of his death. Just as no one is discharged during war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

I saw all of it as the activity of God. Frankly, a human being cannot understand what happens on earth, because however hard a man works to discover it, he will not find out. Despite what he thinks he knows, he will not be able to figure it out.

In light of all of this, I committed myself to explain it this way: the righteous and the wise, along with everything they do, are in the hands of God. Furthermore, as to love and hate, no human being knows everything concerning them.

Everyone shares the same experience: a single event affects the righteous, the wicked, the good, the clean, the unclean, whoever sacrifices, and whoever does not sacrifice. As it is with the good person, so also it is with the sinner; as it is with someone who takes an oath, so also it is with someone who fears taking an oath.

Go ahead and enjoy your meals as you eat. Drink your wine with a joyful attitude, because God already has approved your actions.

In addition, no human being knows his time: Like fish captured in a cruel net, or as birds caught in a snare, so also are human beings caught by bad timing that surprises them.

As dead flies cause the perfumer's ointment to stink, so also does a little foolishness to one's reputation of wisdom and honor.

The fool overflows with words, and no one can predict what will happen. As to what will happen after him, who can explain it?

Just as you do not understand the way of the spirit in the womb of a pregnant mother, so also you do not know what God is doing in everything he makes.

So enjoy yourself in your youth, young man, and be encouraged during your younger days. Live as you like, consistent with your world view, but keep in mind that God will bring you to account for everything.