12I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king`s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.
13Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.
14The wise man`s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness -- and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.
15Then said I in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?" Then said I in my heart that this also is vanity.
16For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
17So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
18I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
