I said to myself concerning {humans}, "God sifts them in order to show them that they are like beasts."

For the fate of {humans} and the fate of the beast is {the same}. The death of the one is like the death of the other, for {both are mortal}. Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting.

Like the sound of thorns under a pot, so also the laughter of fools. This also [is] vanity!

{For wisdom offers protection like money offers protection}. But knowledge [has] an advantage--wisdom restores life to its possessor.

Who [is] like the sage? Who knows [the] interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

But it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not prolong [their] days, like the shadow; because there is no fearing {God's presence}.

For man does not know his time. Just as fish are caught in a cruel net and like birds who are seized in a snare, so also {humans} are ensnared at a cruel time when it falls suddenly upon them.

I have even seen slaves [riding] on horses and princes walking like slaves on the earth!

The words of the wise [are] like cattle goads; the collections of the sages [are] like pricks inflicted by one shepherd.