Ecclesiastes 1:9-11

⁹ What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

¹¹ No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

under the sun (v.9) — life with a time-bound, man-centered point of view.

What seems to man to be new is only so because of man’s limited knowledge. … Man may hope to establish such a reputation for greatness that he will never be forgotten. … Men of former generations forgot all too quickly that which preceded them; and coming generations will repeat their error. … If you consider purely earthly values, what are you profited? What do you achieve? What is left to you as your portion? … KJV Commentary, page 737.

__________

There is in reality “nothing new” (v.10); that is, nothing occurs, or can occur, which can transport [a person] into a new world, or give him new joys or emotions. Modern inventions are only “new” in a comparative and not in an absolute sense; and verse 11 declares that the records of the antediluvian world are as totally destroyed as shall be the records of this present world. The former were destroyed by water; the latter shall be destroyed by fire. — Williams, pages 439-440

The philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Solomon said that nobody remembers the past and everyone is condemned to repeat it.