Ecclesiastes 9:12-18

12 For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.
13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
14 There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.
16 So I said, "Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded."
17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one bungler destroys much good.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.