I said of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth, What does it do?

I also gathered for me silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of men, [and] a wife and wives.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart in which he labors under the sun?

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart.

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

[This is] the end of the matter, all has been heard: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.