Wisdom 4:1-3

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

4 Better than this is childlessness with virtue,
for in the memory of virtue^[a] is immortality,
because it is known both by God and by mortals.
² When it is present, people imitate^[b] it,
and they long for it when it has gone;
throughout all time it marches, crowned in triumph,
victor in the contest for prizes that are undefiled.
³ But the prolific brood of the ungodly will be of no use,
and none of their illegitimate seedlings will strike a deep root
or take a firm hold.