Study Desk

As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless.

God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.

He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does.

But better off than either are those who have never been born, who have never seen the injustice that goes on in this world.

I have also learned why people work so hard to succeed: it is because they envy the things their neighbors have. But it is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

Maybe so, but it is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.

If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him.

If it is cold, two can sleep together and stay warm, but how can you keep warm by yourself

Someone may rise from poverty to become king of his country, or go from prison to the throne, but if in his old age he is too foolish to take advice, he is not as well off as a young man who is poor but intelligent.

Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.

God will give us wealth, honor, and property, yes, everything we want, but then will not let us enjoy it. Some stranger will enjoy it instead. It is useless, and it just isn't right.

We may have a hundred children and live a long time, but no matter how long we live, if we do not get our share of happiness and do not receive a decent burial, then I say that a baby born dead is better off.

It never sees the light of day or knows what life is like, but at least it has found rest—

We do all our work just to get something to eat, but we never have enough.

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

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

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.

But don't be too wicked or too foolish, either—why die before you have to?

I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me.

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.