Study Desk

Those who are good travel a road that avoids evil; so watch where you are going—it may save your life.

Gossip is so tasty—how we love to swallow it!

What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words.

Arrogance should be punished, so that people who don't know any better can learn a lesson. If you are wise, you will learn when you are corrected.

Too much honey is bad for you, and so is trying to win too much praise.

Gossip is so tasty! How we love to swallow it!

keep me from lying, and let me be neither rich nor poor. So give me only as much food as I need.

There are people who think they are so good—oh, how good they think they are!

After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done. So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish.

I thought to myself, "What happens to fools is going to happen to me, too. So what have I gained from being so wise?" "Nothing," I answered, "not a thing."

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.

So I came to regret that I had worked so hard.

God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.

So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive.

So I realized then that the best thing we can do is enjoy what we have worked for. There is nothing else we can do. There is no way for us to know what will happen after we die.

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.

Maybe so, but it is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.

Here is someone who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too—and a miserable way to live.

Think before you speak, and don't make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say any more than you have to.

So when you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible. He has no use for a fool. Do what you promise to do.