The Wise and the Foolish

Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what [more] can the king’s vvv successor do than what has already been accomplished? 13 And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness:

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The wise man has eyes in his head,

but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both. 15 So I said to myself,“The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?”

And I said to myself that this too is futile.

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For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

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