Said, I, in my heart, as concerning the sons of men, That God was minded to prove them, - and that they might see, that they were beasts, of themselves.

The end of a thing is better than the beginning. The patient of spirit is better than the high minded.

I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

for thereunto I applied my mind: that I might know what were wisdom and understanding, what were error and foolishness. And I perceived that this also was but a vexation of mind:

The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,
While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

I spoke with my heart, saying, “Behold, I have acquired great [human] wisdom and experience, more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of [moral] wisdom and [scientific] knowledge.”

Because punishment for an evil work comes not quickly, the minds of the sons of men are fully given to doing evil.

When I gave my mind to the knowledge of wisdom and to seeing the business which is done on the earth (and there are those whose eyes see not sleep by day or by night),

But even if a man's life is long and he has joy in all his years, let him keep in mind the dark days, because they will be great in number. Whatever may come is to no purpose.

Let your mind be turned to your Maker in the days of your strength, while the evil days come not, and the years are far away when you will say, I have no pleasure in them;

So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken and all my wisdom under the sun.

Sorrow is better than joy; when the face is sad the mind gets better.

I gave my mind to knowledge and to searching for wisdom and the reason of things, and to the discovery that sin is foolish, and that to be foolish is to be without one's senses.

I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool,
and a bribe destroys the mind.

All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.

Even in thy mind a king revile not, And in the inner parts of thy bed-chamber Revile not the rich: For a fowl of the heavens causeth the voice to go, And a possessor of wings declareth the word.

Whoever obeys [his] command will not suffer disaster. The wise mind knows the [proper] time and the right [procedure].