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A Disillusioned View of Life

7A good name is better than precious ointment,
   and the day of death, than the day of birth.
² It is better to go to the house of mourning
   than to go to the house of feasting;
for this is the end of everyone,
   and the living will lay it to heart.
³ Sorrow is better than laughter,
   for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.
⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning;
   but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
⁵ It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
   than to hear the song of fools.
⁶ For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,
   so is the laughter of fools;
   this also is vanity.
⁷ Surely oppression makes the wise foolish,
   and a bribe corrupts the heart.
⁸ Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;
   the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit.
⁹ Do not be quick to anger,
   for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
¹⁰ Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’
   For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
¹¹ Wisdom is as good as an inheritance,
   an advantage to those who see the sun.
¹² For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
   and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.
¹³ Consider the work of God;
   who can make straight what he has made crooked?

14 On the day of prosperity be joyful, and on the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.