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People work just to feed themselves,
    but they never seem to get enough to eat.
In this way a wise person
    is no better off than a fool.
Then, too, it does a poor person little good
    to know how to get along in life.
It is better to see what you have
    than to want more.
Wanting more is useless—
    like chasing the wind.

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Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
    yet their appetite is never satisfied.(A)
What advantage have the wise over fools?(B)
What do the poor gain
    by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
Better what the eye sees
    than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
    a chasing after the wind.(C)

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