Pre-Game Proverb with John Rayner

Ecc 7:13  Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked?

Ecc 7:11  Wisdom is even better when you have money. Both are a benefit as you go through life. Ecc 7:12  Wisdom and money can get you almost anything, but only wisdom can save your life.

Ecc 7:10  Do not say, "Why is it that the former days were better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

Ecc 7:9  Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, For anger resides in the bosom of fools.

Ecc 7:8  Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride.

Ecc 7:7  Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. 

Ecc 7:6  A fool’s laughter is quickly gone, like thorns crackling in a fire. This also is meaningless. 

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 6:7  All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. 

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 th...

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 5:20  God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.

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 5:13  There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. Ecc 5:14  Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children.