Ecclesiastes Life, Consciousness, and Existence Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter:Verse)

Quote #4

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a chasing after wind. (NRSV 6:9)

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit. (KJV 6:9)

This little quote packs a punch. Ecclesiastes is saying that if you're not appreciating the beauty that's in front of you—observing it and enjoying it just by beholding it—then you're stuck in the world of wandering desires, desperately trying to get pleasure instead of seeing what's right there in front of you.

Quote #5

Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do. Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. (NRSV 9:7-10)

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. (KJV 9:7-10)

Ecclesiastes is urging us to seize the day again—before death falls and everything disappears.

Quote #6

Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. (NRSV 11:5)

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. (KJV 11:5)

Like in Ecclesiastes's quote about how God put "Eternity" into the mind of man, this quote hammers home how ignorant we are about how things really work.