Vanity of vanities; all is vanity
E109713
"Vanity of vanities; all is vanity" is the famous refrain from the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes that encapsulates its theme of the fleeting, ultimately insubstantial nature of human endeavors and worldly pursuits.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Ecclesiastes 1:2 | 1 |
| Vanity of vanities; all is vanity canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T925150 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Vanity of vanities; all is vanity Context triple: [Book of Ecclesiastes, keyPhrase, Vanity of vanities; all is vanity]
-
A.
Nil Sine Labore
Nil Sine Labore is the Latin motto of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, expressing the principle that nothing is achieved without hard work.
-
B.
The Meaning of Life
The Meaning of Life is a 1983 British comedy film by Monty Python that satirically explores the stages and absurdities of human existence through a series of surreal sketches.
-
C.
Life, the Universe and Everything
Life, the Universe and Everything is the third comedic science fiction novel in Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, continuing the absurd adventures of Arthur Dent and his companions.
-
D.
Veritas vos liberabit
Veritas vos liberabit is a Latin phrase meaning "The truth will set you free," commonly used as a university and institutional motto emphasizing the liberating power of knowledge and truth.
-
E.
Fool's Paradise
Fool's Paradise is a 2023 satirical comedy film that marks Charlie Day's feature directorial debut, following a mute man who becomes an accidental Hollywood star.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Vanity of vanities; all is vanity Target entity description: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity" is the famous refrain from the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes that encapsulates its theme of the fleeting, ultimately insubstantial nature of human endeavors and worldly pursuits.
-
A.
Nil Sine Labore
Nil Sine Labore is the Latin motto of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, expressing the principle that nothing is achieved without hard work.
-
B.
The Meaning of Life
The Meaning of Life is a 1983 British comedy film by Monty Python that satirically explores the stages and absurdities of human existence through a series of surreal sketches.
-
C.
Life, the Universe and Everything
Life, the Universe and Everything is the third comedic science fiction novel in Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, continuing the absurd adventures of Arthur Dent and his companions.
-
D.
Veritas vos liberabit
Veritas vos liberabit is a Latin phrase meaning "The truth will set you free," commonly used as a university and institutional motto emphasizing the liberating power of knowledge and truth.
-
E.
Fool's Paradise
Fool's Paradise is a 2023 satirical comedy film that marks Charlie Day's feature directorial debut, following a mute man who becomes an accidental Hollywood star.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
biblical phrase
ⓘ
literary quotation ⓘ religious quotation ⓘ |
| alternativeTranslation |
"Meaningless! Meaningless!"
ⓘ
"Utterly meaningless; everything is meaningless" ⓘ |
| appearsIn |
Book of Ecclesiastes
ⓘ
Hebrew Bible ⓘ
linked to:
Tanakh
Old Testament ⓘ
linked to:
Bible
|
| associatedConcept |
detachment from worldly goods
ⓘ
memento mori ⓘ |
| attributedTo | King Solomon ⓘ |
| biblicalBook |
Ecclesiastes
ⓘ
linked to:
Book of Ecclesiastes
|
| canonicalStatus | canonical scripture ⓘ |
| chapter |
Ecclesiastes 1
ⓘ
linked to:
Book of Ecclesiastes
|
| functionInText |
opening thesis of Ecclesiastes
ⓘ
programmatic summary of Ecclesiastes ⓘ |
| genreContext | wisdom literature ⓘ |
| hebrewMeaning |
breath
ⓘ
vanity ⓘ vapor ⓘ |
| hebrewTerm | hevel ⓘ |
| influenceOn |
Christian ascetic thought
ⓘ
Western literature ⓘ philosophical reflections on mortality ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryDevice |
repetition
ⓘ
superlative construction ⓘ |
| mood |
contemplative
ⓘ
pessimistic ⓘ |
| motif |
existential skepticism
ⓘ
worldly impermanence ⓘ |
| refrainOf | Book of Ecclesiastes ⓘ |
| religiousTradition |
Christianity
ⓘ
Judaism ⓘ |
| sourceLanguage |
Biblical Hebrew
ⓘ
linked to:
Hebrew
|
| speaker |
Qoheleth
ⓘ
linked to:
Book of Ecclesiastes
|
| theme |
ephemerality of earthly achievements
ⓘ
futility of human endeavors ⓘ meaninglessness of worldly pursuits ⓘ transience of human life ⓘ |
| translationSource | King James Version ⓘ |
| usedAs |
literary epigraph
ⓘ
proverbial saying ⓘ sermon text ⓘ |
| verse |
Ecclesiastes 1:2
ⓘ
linked to:
Vanity of vanities; all is vanity
|
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Vanity of vanities; all is vanity Description of subject: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity" is the famous refrain from the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes that encapsulates its theme of the fleeting, ultimately insubstantial nature of human endeavors and worldly pursuits.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject linked to:
Vanity of vanities; all is vanity
linked to: Vanity of vanities; all is vanity