Pre-Game Proverb with John Rayner

Ecc 7:5  Better to be criticized by a wise person than to be praised by a fool.

Ecc 7:4  The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure. 

Ecc 7:3  Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. 

Ecc 7:2  It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.

Ecc 7:1  A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you are born. 

Ecc 6:11  For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man? Ecc 6:12  For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun

Ecc 6:10  Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny. 

Ecc 6:9 Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

Ecc 6:8 So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others?

Ecc 6:3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, "Better the miscarriage than he,Ecc 6:4 for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity. Ecc 6:5 "It never sees the sun and it never knows anything; it is better off than...

Ecc 6:1 There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity. Ecc 6:2 God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want, but then he doesn’t give them the chance to enjoy these things. They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth! This is meaningless—a sickening tragedy.

Ecc 5:19 And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God.

Ecc 5:18  Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.

Ecc 5:17 Throughout his life he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness and anger.

Ecc 5:15  We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. Ecc 5:16  And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind.

Ecc 5:12  The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, Whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. 

Ecc 5:11  When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? 

Ecc 5:8 Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy.

Ecc 5:6 Don’t let your mouth make you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved. Ecc 5:7 Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God instead.

Ecc 5:4  When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. Ecc 5:5  It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

Ecc 5:3 Too much activity gives you restless dreams; too many words make you a fool.

Ecc 5:1  As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. Ecc 5:2  Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few.

Ecc 4:9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Ecc 4:10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Ecc 4:11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? Ecc 4:12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and...

Ecc 4:7  I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun. Ecc 4:8  This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, “Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?” It is all so meaningless and depressing.

Ecc 4:5 “Fools fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin.”Ecc 4:6 And yet, “Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind.”