Quotes About Wisdom

It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not tell the messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?

For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.

There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,

This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.

There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:

The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,

What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?

Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.

For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?

For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

A good name is better than fine perfume, and oneís day of death is better than his day of birth.

It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

It is better to heed a wise manís rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.

For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.

Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

The end of a matter is better than the beginning, and a patient spirit is better than a proud one.

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is unwise of you to ask about this.

Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good, and it benefits those who see the sun.