Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.

For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me.

I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.

The wise man has eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.

So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings.

What advantage then does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others?

The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.

It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools,

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

Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
since it is not wise of you to ask this.

Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

Wisdom makes the wise man stronger
than ten rulers of a city.

Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

The calm words of the wise are heeded
more than the shouts of a ruler over fools.

A wise man’s heart goes to the right,
but a fool’s heart to the left.

The words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious,
but the lips of a fool consume him.

In addition to the Teacher being a wise man, he constantly taught the people knowledge; he weighed, explored, and arranged many proverbs.

The sayings of the wise are like goads, and those from masters of collections are like firmly embedded nails. The sayings are given by one Shepherd.