1 - A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 - It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.
3 - Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 - The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 - It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools.
6 - Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.
7 - Extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 - The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.
9 - Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
10 - Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.
11 - Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.
12 - Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it.
13 - Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?
14 - When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.
15 - In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
16 - Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise - why destroy yourself?
17 - Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool - why die before your time?
18 - It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.
19 - Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city.
20 - Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
21 - Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you -
22 - for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 - All this I tested by wisdom and I said, "I am determined to be wise" - but this was beyond me.
24 - Whatever exists is far off and most profound - who can discover it?
25 - So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.
26 - I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.
27 - "Look," says the Teacher,
28 - while I was still searching but not finding - I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
29 - This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes."