Indeed, all of his days are filled with sorrow, and his struggles bring grief. In fact, his mind remains restless throughout the night. This is pointless, too!

So I commended the dead who had already died as being happier than the living who are still alive.

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

Don't be surprised when you see the poor oppressed and the violent perverting both justice and verdicts in a province, for one high official watches another, and there are ones higher still over them.

When possessions increase, so does the number of consumers; therefore what good are they to their owners, except to look at them?

A man might father a hundred children, and live for many years, so that the length of his life is long but if his life does not overflow with goodness, and he doesn't receive a proper burial, I maintain that stillborn children are better off than he is,

because stillborn children arrive in pointlessness, leave in darkness, and their names are covered in darkness.

Furthermore, though they never saw the sun nor learned anything, they are more content than the other.

Even if he lives a thousand years twice over without experiencing the best aren't all of them going to the same place?

When times are good, be joyful; when times are bad, consider this: God made the one as well as the other, so people won't seek anything outside of his best.

I discovered for myself a bitterness that surpasses that of death: the woman whose heart is full of snares and nets, whose hands are chains of bondage. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the transgressor will be trapped by her.

Since a king's command is powerful, who is able to challenge him, asking, "What are you doing?"

So I watched the wicked being entombed. They used to come in and out of the Holy Place, but now they are forgotten in the city, where they used to work. This, too, is pointless.

In light of all of this, I committed myself to explain it this way: the righteous and the wise, along with everything they do, are in the hands of God. Furthermore, as to love and hate, no human being knows everything concerning them.

There is a tragedy that infects everything that happens on earth: a common event happens to everyone. In fact, the hearts of human beings are full of evil. Madness remains in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead.

In addition, no human being knows his time: Like fish captured in a cruel net, or as birds caught in a snare, so also are human beings caught by bad timing that surprises them.

So I concluded, "Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the wisdom of the poor is rejected his words are never heard."

The softly spoken words of the wise are to be heard rather than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

The words spoken by the wise are gracious, but the lips of a fool will devour him.

Festivals are for laughter, wine makes life pleasant, and money speaks to everything.

If the clouds are full of rain, they will pour out on the earth; if a tree falls toward the south or the north, wherever it falls, there it will lay.

Even if a person lives many years, let him enjoy them all, recalling that there will be many days of darkness to come all of which are pointless.

Banish sorrow from your heart, and evil from your body, since both childhood and the prime of life are pointless.

when that day comes, the palace guards will tremble, strong men will stoop down, women grinders will cease because they are few, and the sight of those who peer through the lattice will grow dim.

The doors to the street will be shut when the sound of grinding decreases, when one wakes up at the song of a bird, and all of the singing women are silenced.

Sayings from the wise are like cattle prods and well fastened nails; this masterful collection was given by one shepherd.