What is bent cannot be straightened, and what is missing cannot be supplied.

For all day long his work produces pain and frustration, and even at night his mind cannot relax! This also is futile!

God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.

Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years -- even if he lives a long, long time, but cannot enjoy his prosperity -- even if he were to live forever -- I would say, "A stillborn child is better off than he is!"

For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns under a cooking pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This kind of folly also is useless.

I discovered this: More bitter than death is the kind of woman who is like a hunter's snare; her heart is like a hunter's net and her hands are like prison chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is captured by her.

Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, so no one has power over the day of his death. Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked.