Ecclesiastes 1:2

Vanity of vanities] lit.'breath of breaths'; the form of expression being a Hebrew way of indicating the superlative degree. Of all fleeting things existence is the most fleeting. The same figure is used in Psalms 62:9; Psalms 144:4 of the brevity of man's life. The word vanity, occurring thirty-eight times, strikes the keynote of the book. All things living and otherwise bear the stamp of the transitory.