Add parallel Print Page Options

But better off than either of them is the one who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

I have seen that every [effort in] labor and every skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This too is vanity (futility, false pride) and chasing after the wind. The fool folds his hands [together] and consumes his own flesh [destroying himself by idleness and apathy].

Read full chapter

But better than both
    is the one who has never been born,(A)
who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.(B)

And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(C)

Fools fold their hands(D)
    and ruin themselves.

Read full chapter