Study Desk

because wealth is not permanent. Not even nations last forever.

She doesn't worry when it snows, because her family has warm clothing.

So life came to mean nothing to me, because everything in it had brought me nothing but trouble. It had all been useless; I had been chasing the wind.

Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor,

I told myself, "God is going to judge the righteous and the evil alike, because every thing, every action, will happen at its own set time."

After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either.

Then I looked again at all the injustice that goes on in this world. The oppressed were crying, and no one would help them. No one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side.

I have also learned why people work so hard to succeed: it is because they envy the things their neighbors have. But it is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively.

If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him.

It is better to go to a home where there is mourning than to one where there is a party, because the living should always remind themselves that death is waiting for us all.

Why do people commit crimes so readily? Because crime is not punished quickly enough.

but it will not go well for the wicked. Their life is like a shadow and they will die young, because they do not obey God."

So I am convinced that we should enjoy ourselves, because the only pleasure we have in this life is eating and drinking and enjoying ourselves. We can at least do this as we labor during the life that God has given us in this world.

Enjoy life with the one you love, as long as you live the useless life that God has given you in this world. Enjoy every useless day of it, because that is all you will get for all your trouble.

Work hard at whatever you do, because there will be no action, no thought, no knowledge, no wisdom in the world of the dead—and that is where you are going.

Put your investments in several places—many places even—because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world.

But because the Philosopher was wise, he kept on teaching the people what he knew. He studied proverbs and honestly tested their truth.

After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.

Don't look down on me because of my color, because the sun has tanned me. My brothers were angry with me and made me work in the vineyard. I had no time to care for myself.