Fathers

Ecclesiastes 4

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Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive. Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself. Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind. Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun. There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then, do I labor and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone? If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who doesn’t know how to receive admonition any more. For out of prison he came out to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor. I saw all the living who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the other, who succeeded him. There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was—yet those who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

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What the Fathers say

Ecclesiastes 4:6

Western Saints

Jerome

"Better is one handful of pleasantness than two fistfuls of labour and vexation of the spirit." It is better to have modest power, than great riches of sins. And in Proverbs it says, "To receive a little through righteousness is better than gaining much by injustice." [Prov. 16, 8.] Justice rightly has rest, injustice toil. And since a single number is always seen in a good context and a dual seen as wickedness, therefore one fist has rest, and two hands are full of toil.

Commentary on Ecclesiastes ↗

John Cassian

And therefore it is better for us with unbroken continuance to aim at this very slender profit in the desert, from which no secular cares, no worldly distractions, no pride of vainglory and vanity can detract, and which the pressure of no daily wants can lessen (for "a small thing that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly") rather than to pursue those larger profits which even if they are procured by the most valuable conversion of many, are yet absorbed by the claims of secular life and the daily leakage of …

Conference 24:13 ↗

Bonaventure

But in this laziness of sloth he seems to himself to have an excuse of wisdom; whence he also adds, saying: "Better is a handful with rest than both hands full with labor and affliction of spirit." This is the maxim of the sluggard, by which he excuses himself; whence it is said in Proverbs chapter twenty-six: "The sluggard seems wiser to himself than seven men who speak maxims." — And thus is intimated in the sluggard the torpor of sloth, because he folds his hands; the endurance of penury, because he eats his flesh; the excuse of …

Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4 ↗