Ecclesiastes 9:16

Wisdom is better than strength The maxim of ch. Ecclesiastes 7:19 is reproduced, but it is traversed by the fact that the wisdom must often be content to remain unrecognised. The power of the purse too often prevails against the wisdom of the poor. At the best, often, in words already quoted (Ecclesiastes 9:11),

"Probitas laudatur et alget."

"Virtue is praised, and left out in the cold."

Juvenal, Sat.i. 74.

The marginal reference in the A. V. to Mark 6:2-3 is not without significance as indicating the highest illustration of the maxim, in the question which asked "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is he not himself a carpenter?" The chief butler's forgetfulness of Joseph (Genesis 40:23) supplies another obvious parallel.