Ecclesiastes Quotes

In much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

Solomon

Grief, Sorrow, Contradicting

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There is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.

Solomon

Bible, Dance, Biblical

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All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full.

Solomon

Running, Sea, Rivers

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The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Solomon

Done, Sun, New Things

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Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Solomon

Men, Evil, Secret

"Ecclesiastes". Book by Solomon , 12:13-14, c. 450-200 BCE.

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What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun

Solomon

Done, Sun, Has Beens

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In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider.

Solomon

Adversity, Eugenics, Prosperity

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It’s interesting that in the Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, the only practical advice given about living a meaningful life is to find a job you like, enjoy your marriage, and obey God. It’s as though God is saying, Write a good story, take somebody with you, and let me help.

Donald Miller

Meaningful, Jobs, Book

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Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Solomon

Book, Flesh, Study

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Two are better than one,because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lif' up his fellow, but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up.

Solomon

Friendship, Best Friend, Fall

John Steinbeck (2016). “The Grapes of Wrath”, p.338, Hamilton Books

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Sorrow is better than laughter; for, by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better.

Solomon

Laughter, Heart, Character

"A new translation of the Proverbs of Solomon, with notes by W. French and G. Skinner".

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A good name is better than precious ointment.

Solomon

Family, Names, Reputation

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Horror grows impatient, rhetorically, with the Stoic fatalism of Ecclesiastes. That we are all going to die, that death mocks and cancels every one of our acts and attainments and every moment of our life histories, this knowledge is to storytelling what rust is to oxidation; the writer of horror holds with those who favor fire. The horror writer is not content to report on death as the universal system of human weather; he or she chases tornadoes. Horror is Stoicism with a taste for spectacle.

Michael Chabon

Fire, Weather, Rust

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But how can one be warm alone?

Joseph Heller

Bible, Warm

Joseph Heller (1997). “God Knows”, p.209, Simon and Schuster

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There is nothing new under the sun.

Jon Meacham

Science, Old Things, Sun

Jon Meacham (2012). “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power”, p.355, Random House

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Even a cursory reading of the book of Ecclesiastes shows that culture is a stationary bike that each generation climbs on in hopes of getting somewhere only to die and fall off so that the new young stud can take his turn peddling and, like a fool, make pronouncements about his progress. We would be wise to see postmodernity as simply the new guy on the old bike and not mistake cultural change for kingdom progress.

Mark Driscoll

Wise, Mistake, Book

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There is nothing new under the sun, not even Manet.

Jules Breton

Old Things, Sun, Originality

Jules Breton (1891). “The Life of an Artist: Art and Nature”

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No Ideas original - there is nothing new under the sun.

Nas

Ideas, Old Things, Sun

Song: No Idea's Original

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All things come alike to all; there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not.

Doris Lessing

Wicked, Events, Clean

Doris Lessing (1999). “Ecclesiastes or, The Preacher”, p.30, Canongate Books

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A revival almost always begins among the laity. The ecclesiastical leaders seldom welcome reformation. History repeats itself. The present leaders are too comfortably situated as a rule to desire innovation that might require sacrifice on their part. And God's fire only falls on sacrifice. An empty altar receives no fire!

Frank Bartleman

God, Christian, Fall

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As Ecclesiastes tells it, a wholesale devotion to pleasure will, paradoxically, lead to a state of utter despair.

Philip Yancey

Despair, Devotion, Pleasure

Philip Yancey (2002). “The Bible Jesus Read: An Eight-session Exploration of the Old Testament Participant's Guide”, p.97, Harper Collins

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Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber, for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

Doris Lessing

Bible, Kings, Air

Doris Lessing (1999). “Ecclesiastes or, The Preacher”, p.34, Canongate Books

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That mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that mortal man cannot be true--not true, or undeveloped.

Herman Melville

Men, Joy, Sorrow

Herman Melville (2008). “Moby-Dick”, p.473, Velvet Element Books

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Godly fear, faith, and humility is the true threefold cord that can’t easily be broken (see Ecclesiastes 4:12).

John Bevere

Humility, Godly, Broken

Twitter post from Mar 21, 2014

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Book of Ecclesiastes, God is saying... Write a good story, take somebody with you and let me help

Donald Miller

Book, Writing, Stories

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