you can't take it with you
(you) can't take it with you (when you go)
proverb A warning against materialism that alludes to the fact that you can't keep your money or possessions when you die. It doesn't matter how much money you make in your lifetime—you can't take it with you when you go. Quit buying so much expensive stuff! You can't take it with you!
See also: take
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
you can't take it with you
Enjoy material things while you're alive, as in Go ahead and buy the fancier car; you can't take it with you. This phrase gained currency as the title of a very popular play (1936) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart and of the 1938 film based on it. [First half of 1800s]
See also: take
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
you can't take it with you
It’s of temporal value; you may as well enjoy it now. This phrase dates from the early nineteenth century. Frederick Marryat used it in Masterman Ready (1841): “He was very fond of money; but that they said was all the better, as he could not take it away with him when he died.” The expression gained even wider currency when George Kaufman and Moss Hart used it as the title for one of their great comedies (1937).
See also: take
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- (you) can't take it with you (when you go)
- can't take it with you
- can-shaker
- better a dollar earned than ten inherited
- bad money drives out good
- color of someone's money, see the
- funny money
- come into (some) money
- come into money
- be (right) on the money