Ecclesiastes - The Old Testament

¹ One dead fly can spoil the scent-maker's oil: a grain of stupidity outweighs wisdom and glory.

² The sage's heart leads him aright, the fool's leads him astray.

³ A fool walks down the road, he has no wit -- and everyone remarks, 'How silly he is!'

⁴ If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post; composure mitigates grave offences.

⁵ One evil I observe under the sun: the sort of misjudgement to which rulers are prone-

⁶ folly promoted to the top and the rich taking the lowest place.

⁷ I see slaves riding on horses and princes on foot like slaves.

⁸ He who digs a pit falls into it, he who undermines a wall gets bitten by a snake,

⁹ he who quarries stones gets hurt by them, he who chops wood takes a risk from it.

¹⁰ If, for want of sharpening, the blade is blunt, you have to work twice as hard; but it is the outcome that makes wisdom rewarding.

¹¹ If, for want of charming, the snake bites, the snake-charmer gets nothing out of it.

¹² The sayings of a sage give pleasure, what a fool says procures his own ruin:

¹³ his words have their origin in stupidity and their ending in treacherous folly.

¹⁴ A fool talks a great deal, but none of us in fact can tell the future; what will happen after us, who can tell?

¹⁵ A fool finds hard work very tiring, he cannot even find his own way into town.

¹⁶ Woe to you, country with a lad for king, and where princes start feasting in the morning!

¹⁷ Happy the land whose king is nobly born, where princes eat at a respectable hour to keep themselves strong and not merely to revel!

¹⁸ Thanks to idleness, the roof-tree gives way, thanks to carelessness, the house lets in the rain.

¹⁹ We give parties to enjoy ourselves, wine makes us cheerful and money has an answer for everything.

²⁰ Do not abuse the king, even in thought, do not abuse a rich man, even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air might carry the news, a winged messenger might repeat what you have said.