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I envy those who are dead and gone; they are better off than those who are still alive. But better off than either are those who have never been born, who have never seen the injustice that goes on in this world.

I have also learned why people work so hard to succeed: it is because they envy the things their neighbors have. But it is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

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And I declared that the dead,(A)
    who had already died,
are happier than the living,
    who are still alive.(B)
But better than both
    is the one who has never been born,(C)
who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.(D)

And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(E)

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