Ecclesiastes 2:1-3

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition

The Futility of Self-Indulgence

2 I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.’ But again, this also was vanity. ² I said of laughter, ‘It is mad’, and of pleasure, ‘What use is it?’ ³ I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life.