“I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.”

—  Solomon

Ecclesiastes, 1:13 http://bible.cc/ecclesiastes/1-13.htm, New American Standard Bible

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Feb. 22, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which…" by Solomon?
Solomon photo
Solomon 14
king of Israel and the son of David -990–-931 BC

Related quotes

Baruch Spinoza photo

“I do not think it necessary for salvation to know Christ according to the flesh : but with regard to the Eternal Son of God, that is the Eternal Wisdom of God, which has manifested itself in all things and especially in the human mind, and above all in Christ Jesus, the case is far otherwise.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Letter 21 (73) to Henry Oldenburg, November (1675)
Variant translation: The eternal wisdom of God … has shown itself forth in all things, but chiefly in the mind of man, and most of all in Jesus Christ.
Context: I do not think it necessary for salvation to know Christ according to the flesh : but with regard to the Eternal Son of God, that is the Eternal Wisdom of God, which has manifested itself in all things and especially in the human mind, and above all in Christ Jesus, the case is far otherwise. For without this no one can come to a state of blessedness, inasmuch as it alone teaches, what is true or false, good or evil. And, inasmuch as this wisdom was made especially manifest through Jesus Christ, as I have said, his disciples preached it, in so far as it was revealed to them through him, and thus showed that they could rejoice in that spirit of Christ more than the rest of mankind. The doctrines added by certain churches, such as that God took upon himself human nature, I have expressly said that I do not understand; in fact, to speak the truth, they seem to me no less absurd than would a statement, that a circle had taken upon itself the nature of a square. This I think will be sufficient explanation of my opinions concerning the three points mentioned. Whether it will be satisfactory to Christians you will know better than I.

Walter Scott photo

“True love's the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven”

Walter Scott The Lay of the Last Minstrel

Canto V, stanza 13.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
Context: True love's the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven:
It is not fantasy's hot fire,
Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly;
It liveth not in fierce desire,
With dead desire it doth not die;
It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which heart to heart, and mind to mind
In body and in soul can bind.

Fernando Pessoa photo

“I've never done anything but dream. This, and this alone, has been the meaning of my life. My only real concern has been my inner life.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Source: The Book of Disquiet

Philip II of Spain photo

“God, who has given me so many Kingdoms to govern, has not given me a son fit to govern them.”

Philip II of Spain (1527–1598) King of Spain who became King of England by marriage to Queen Mary I

David Maland, Europe in the seventeenth century (1966), p. 207.

George Müller photo

“Under these circumstances prayer and faith were again resorted to. For my universal remedy in need of any kind is, to make known my requests unto God, and then I seek to believe that God has heard me for His dear Son's sake, and I look out for answers to my petitions, and fully expect them.”

George Müller (1805–1898) German-English clergyman

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller Written by Himself, Fourth Part.
Fourth Part of Narrative

Calvin Coolidge photo

“The public press under an autocracy is necessarily a true agency of propaganda. Under a free government it must be the very reverse. Propaganda seeks to present a part of the facts, to distort their relations, and to force conclusions which could not be drawn from a complete and candid survey of all the facts. It has been observed that propaganda seeks to close the mind, while education seeks to open it. This has become one of the dangers of the present day.”

Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929)

1920s, The Press Under a Free Government (1925)

Humbert Wolfe photo

“The children play
At hide and seek
About the monument
To Speke.
And why should the dead
Explorer mind
Who has nothing to seek
And nothing to find?”

Humbert Wolfe (1885–1940) English poet

"Speke", from Kensington Gardens (London: Ernest Benn, [1924] 1927) p. 50.

Benjamin Franklin photo

“A nation of well-informed men, who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them, cannot be enslaved.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

Written by Henry Stuber as part of a biographical sketch of Franklin appended to a 1793 edition of Franklin's autobiography and sometimes reprinted with it in the 19th century. It is frequently misattributed to Franklin himself.
Misattributed
Context: Libraries … will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men, who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them, cannot be enslaved. It is in the regions of ignorance that tyranny reigns.

Eric Hoffer photo

“It has been my experience that there is no substitute for time where thinking is concerned. Why is it so? The answer seems to be that in many cases to think means to be able to allow the mind to stray from the task at hand. The mind must be able to be "elsewhere." This needs time.”

Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher

Entry (1955)
Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook (2005)

Related topics