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Chapter 2

What Good Is It To Be Successful?[a] Then I said to myself, “All right, I will pursue pleasure and the enjoyment of good things.” However, this also proved to be vanity. I regarded laughter as madness and pleasure as vanity. Then, while my mind was guiding me with wisdom, I sought to cheer my body with wine and the pursuit of folly, for I was determined to discover what was the best way for men to spend the few days of their life under the heavens.[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:1 Here is a complete experience of life. Nothing is lacking to Qoheleth, neither free spontaneity, nor the rapture of joys and pleasures, nor wisdom itself. He enjoys the best of relationships, and his goods superabound.
  2. Ecclesiastes 2:3 Under the guidance of wisdom, the author tries all manner of things to discover what is good and worthwhile for himself—i.e., what leads to happiness.