Ecclesiastes 4:2

A Conservative Version

Therefore I praised the dead who have long been dead more than the living who are yet alive.

See the chapter Copy

So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous to me. For all is vanity and a striving after wind.

A [good] name is better than precious oil, and the day of death, than the day of birth.

Weep ye not for him who is dead, nor bemoan him. But weep greatly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.