There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and {find delight} in his toil. For I also realized that this [is] from the hand of God!

So I realized that there is {nothing better} for them than to {rejoice and enjoy themselves} during their lives.

So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy [the fruit of] his labor, for this is his lot in life. {For no one knows what will happen in the future.}

But better [off] than both of them is the one who has not yet been born and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Better [is] one handful with peace than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Two [are] better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil.

A poor but wise youth [is] better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows {how to receive advice}.

It is better that you not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

Even if a man fathers a hundred [children] and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart is not satisfied with {his prosperity} and {he does not receive a proper burial}, I deem the stillborn better than him.

{Better to be content with what your eyes see than for your soul to constantly crave more}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

A good name [is] better than precious ointment, and the day of death [is better] than the day of one's birth.

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for [death is] the end of every person, and the living should take [it] to his heart.

Sorrow [is] better than laughter, for by sadness of countenance the heart is made good.

Better to listen to [the] rebuke of [the] wise than for a man to listen to [the] song of fools.

The end of a matter [is] better than its beginning; {better to be slow to anger than hot-headed}.

Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For [it is] not from wisdom [that] you ask this.

I myself found [that] more bitter than death [is] the woman who [is] a trap, whose heart [is] a snare, and whose hands [are] bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.

So I recommend enjoyment. For there [is] nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.

Whoever is joined to all the living has hope. After all, even a live dog is better than a dead lion!

So I concluded that wisdom [is] better than might, yet the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.

Wisdom [is] better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.