And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled.

I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know insanity and foolishness; I realized that this also is striving after wind.

I explored with my mind how to refresh my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely; and how to seize foolishness, until I could see what good there is for the sons of mankind to do under heaven for the few years of their lives.

Because all his days his activity is painful and irritating; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is futility.

For he will not often call to mind the years of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.

The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

I directed my mind to know and to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of foolishness and the foolishness of insanity.

All this I have seen, and have applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun at a time when one person has exercised authority over another person to his detriment.

When I devoted my mind to know wisdom and to see the business which has been done on the earth (even though one should never sleep day or night),