The End of the Wise and the Fool

Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; For what can the man do who succeeds the king?— Only what he has already done.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived That the same event happens to them all.

So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity.”

For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!

And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

The fool folds his hands And consumes his own flesh.

Popularity Passes Away

Better a poor and wise youth Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more.

Fear God, Keep Your Vows

Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.

For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool’s voice is known by his many words.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed—

For what more has the wise man than the fool? What does the poor man have, Who knows how to walk before the living?

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise Than for a man to hear the song of fools.

For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

Do not be overly wicked, Nor be foolish: Why should you die before your time?

I applied my heart to know, To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, To know the wickedness of folly, Even of foolishness and madness.

Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.

A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.

Even when a fool walks along the way, He lacks wisdom, And he shows everyone that he is a fool.

The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, But the lips of a fool shall swallow him up;

The words of his mouth begin with foolishness, And the end of his talk is raving madness.

A fool also multiplies words. No man knows what is to be; Who can tell him what will be after him?

The labor of fools wearies them, For they do not even know how to go to the city!