Ecclesiastes 2:9-16

⁹So was I great, and obtained more than all that had been before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

¹⁰And whatsoever my eyes desired I refused them not; I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart was rejoiced with all my toil, and this was my portion of all my toil.

¹¹But when I turned myself to look on all my works that my hands had wrought, and on the toil that I had toiled to accomplish: then, behold, all was vanity and a torture of the spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

¹²And then I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what can the man do that cometh after the king? only that which others have done already.

¹³But I saw indeed that wisdom hath the advantage over folly, as great as the advantage of light over darkness.

¹⁴The wise man hath his eyes in his head, while the fool walketh in darkness; but I myself perceived then also that one occurrence will befall all of them.

¹⁵Then said I in my heart, The same that befalleth the fool will also befall even me: and why have I then been wiser? Then spoke I in my heart, that this is also vanity.

¹⁶For there is no recollection of the wise any more than of the fool for ever: seeing that which hath long ago been will, in the days that are coming, all be forgotten. And how doth the wise die equally with the fool!