Ecclesiastes

What is necessary for a man is to have a good name. And it is better to die well than to live badly.

It is better to go to a house of mourning, than to a house of feasting. For in the former, we are admonished about the end of all things, while the living consider in their hearts what is yet to be.

Anger is better than laughter. For through the sadness of the countenance, the soul of one who offends may be corrected.

The heart of the wise is a place of mourning, and the heart of the foolish is a place of rejoicing.

It is better to be corrected by a wise man, than to be deceived by the false praise of the foolish.

For, like the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of the foolish. But this, too, is emptiness.

An accusation may trouble a wise man, and it will destroy the strength of his heart.

Better is the end of a speech, than its beginning. Better is the patient man, than the arrogant.

Do not be quickly angered. For anger resides in the sinews of a fool.

You should not say: “What do you think is the reason that the former times were better than they are now?” For such a question is foolish.

Wisdom with riches is more useful and more advantageous, for those who see the sun.

For, as wisdom protects, so also does money protect. But learning and wisdom have this much more: that they bestow life upon one who possesses them.

Consider the works of God, that no one is able to correct anyone whom he has spurned.

In the good day, enjoy good things, and be mindful beforehand of the evil day. For God has made both the one and the other, so that man may not find any just complaint against him.

I have also seen this, during the days of my brevity: the just man perishes in his justice, and the impious lives a long time in his malice.

Do not try to be overly just, and do not try to be more wise than is necessary. Otherwise, you may become stupid.

Do not act with great impiety, and do not choose to be foolish. Otherwise, you may die before your time.

It is good for you to support justice; do not withdraw from it, so that you may not be overthrown by an evil work.

Wisdom has strengthened the wise, more than ten princes of a city.

But there is no just man on earth, who does good and does not sin.

But then, too, do not choose to pay attention to every word that is spoken, lest perhaps you may hear your servant speaking ill of you.

For your conscience knows that you have also repeatedly spoken evil of others.

I tested all things in wisdom. I said: “I will be wise.” And it withdrew further from me,

so much more than it was. It is a great depth. Who will find it?

I have traveled around, so that my soul might know and contemplate and seek wisdom and reason, and so that I might recognize the impiety of the foolish, and the error of the imprudent.

And I have discovered a woman more bitter than death: she who is like a snare for hunters, and whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God, flees from her; but whoever sins, will be seized by her.

Behold, Ecclesiastes said, I have discovered these things, one after another, in order to discover the explanation,

which my soul still seeks and has not found. One man among a thousand, I have found; a woman among them all, I have not found.

This alone have I discovered: that God made man righteous, and yet he has mixed himself with innumerable questions. Who is such as the wise? And who has understood the meaning of the word?