The Teacher says: I discovered this while trying to discover the scheme of things, item by item.

For if they fall, one will help his companion up, but pity the person who falls down and has no one to help him up.

Two people are better than one, because they can reap more benefit from their labor.

Furthermore, if two lie down together, they can keep each other warm, but how can one person keep warm by himself?

Although an assailant may overpower one person, two can withstand him. Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much that is good.

The words of the sages are like prods, and the collected sayings are like firmly fixed nails; they are given by one shepherd.

For the fate of humans and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting.

The wise man can see where he is going, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that the same fate happens to them both.

Both go to the same place, both come from the dust, and to dust both return.

if he should live a thousand years twice, yet does not enjoy his prosperity. For both of them die!

What I have continually sought, I have not found; I have found only one upright man among a thousand, but I have not found one upright woman among all of them.

Everyone shares the same fate – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the ceremonially clean and unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

This is the unfortunate fact about everything that happens on earth: the same fate awaits everyone. In addition to this, the hearts of all people are full of evil, and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die.

Sow your seed in the morning, and do not stop working until the evening; for you do not know which activity will succeed – whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally.

A man who is all alone with no companion, he has no children nor siblings; yet there is no end to all his toil, and he is never satisfied with riches. He laments, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is futile and a burdensome task!