The Vanity of Living Wisely

12 ^qSo I turned to consider ^rwisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^swhat has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 ^tThe wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the ^usame event happens to all of them.

15 Then I said in my heart, ^v“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is ^wno enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^xHow the wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for ^oall is vanity and a striving after wind.