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Thoughts about Life

^1 (a)A good reputation is better than expensive perfume; and the day you die is better than the day you are born.

² It is better to go to a home where there is mourning than to one where there is a party, because the living should always remind themselves that death is waiting for us all.

³ Sorrow is better than laughter; it may sadden your face, but it sharpens your understanding.

⁴ Someone who is always thinking about happiness is a fool. A wise person thinks about death.

⁵ It is better to have wise people reprimand you than to have stupid people sing your praises.

⁶ When a fool laughs, it is like thorns crackling in a fire. It doesn't mean a thing.

⁷ You may be wise, but if you cheat someone, you are acting like a fool. If you take a bribe, you ruin your character.

⁸ The end of something is better than its beginning.

Patience is better than pride.

^9 (b)Keep your temper under control; it is foolish to harbor a grudge.

¹⁰ Never ask, "Oh, why were things so much better in the old days?" It's not an intelligent question.

¹¹ Everyone who lives ought to be wise; it is as good as receiving an inheritance ¹² and will give you as much security as money can. Wisdom keeps you safe—this is the advantage of knowledge.

¹³ Think about what God has done. How can anyone straighten out what God has made crooked? ¹⁴ When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble; you never know what is going to happen next.^[a]

¹⁵ My life has been useless, but in it I have seen everything. Some good people may die while others live on, even though they are evil. ¹⁶ So don't be too good or too wise—why kill yourself ¹⁷ But don't be too wicked or too foolish, either—why die before you have to? ¹⁸ Avoid both extremes. If you have reverence for God, you will be successful anyway.

¹⁹ Wisdom does more for a person than ten rulers can do for a city.

²⁰ There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.

²¹ Don't pay attention to everything people say—you may hear your servant insulting you, ²² and you know yourself that you have insulted other people many times.

²³ I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me. ²⁴ How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand. ²⁵ But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is.

²⁶ I found something more bitter than death—the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net, and her arms around you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner. ²⁷ Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers. ²⁸ I have looked for other answers but have found none. I found one man in a thousand that I could respect, but not one woman. ²⁹ This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.