I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom above all that were before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

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

And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet will he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity.

Wherefore I praised the dead that have been long dead more than the living that are yet alive;

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.

Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone ?

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely , riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt:

Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be comely is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, wherein he laboreth under the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for this is his portion.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:

If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:

All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his evil-doing.

All this have I proved in wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

Behold, this have I found, saith the Preacher, laying one thing to another, to find out the account;

which my soul still seeketh, but I have not found: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.

Behold, this only have I found: that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt.

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, is perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.

I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me:

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

I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth.

Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;