Ecclesiastes 2:11-19

¹¹Then I saw all the works which my hands had made, and everything I had been working to do; and I saw that all was to no purpose and desire for wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

¹²And I went again in search of wisdom and of foolish ways. What may the man do who comes after the king? The thing which he has done before.

¹³Then I saw that wisdom is better than foolish ways — as the light is better than the dark.

¹⁴The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the foolish man goes walking in the dark; but still I saw that the same event comes to them all.

¹⁵Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.

¹⁶Of the wise man, as of the foolish man, there is no memory for ever, seeing that those who now are will have gone from memory in the days to come. See how death comes to the wise as to the foolish!

¹⁷So I was hating life, because everything under the sun was evil to me: all is to no purpose and desire for wind.

¹⁸Hate had I for all my work which I had done, because the man who comes after me will have its fruits.

¹⁹And who is to say if that man will be wise or foolish? But he will have power over all my work which I have done and in which I have been wise under the sun. This again is to no purpose.