02 May 2026
I have hated life, because what is done under the sun is bad for me: everything is a breath and a running after the wind (Ecclesiastes, 2, 17) The wise elder Qoheleth often uses the word hebel, “breath” (usually rendered in Italian as “vanity”), even “breath of breaths”, to indicate how life is precarious, impermanent, sometimes bordering on non-sense. Here he even writes that everything that is done under the sun is a mere breath. Which causes a hatred towards vain toil, also motivated by an observation: «(…) anyway I will have to leave everything to someone who comes after me; and who knows whether he will be wise or stupid?” (Ecclesiastes, 2, 18-19). Or again: «For whom do I toil? (…) This too is a breath» …
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