1 So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
2 Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.
3 Yea, better is he than both, who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
4 Again, I considered all toil, and every skillful work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and grasping after the wind.
5 The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh.
6 Better is a handful with quietness, than both hands full with toil and grasping for the wind.