That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.
All Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 1:15 Go To Ecclesiastes 1
Basil the Great
AD 379
He is upright in heart who does not have his mind inclined to excess or to deficiency but directs his endeavors toward the mean of virtue. He who has turned aside from valor to something less becomes crooked through cowardice, but he who has strained on to greater things inclines toward temerity. Therefore the Scripture calls those “crooked” who go astray from the middle way by excess or by deficiency. For, as a line becomes crooked when its straightforward direction is deflected, now convexly, now concavely, so also a heart becomes crooked when it is at one time exalted through boastfulness, at another dejected through afflictions and humiliations. Wherefore Ecclesiastes says, “The crooked will not be kept straight.” Homilies on the Psalms (Psalm ).
