you can't take it with you

English

Proverb

you can't take it with you

1. It is not possible to take one's material wealth or possessions to whatever world may await one after death.
   • 1900, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 6, in A Millionaire of Yesterday:

     "The clause which—at my death—makes you sole owner of the whole concession. You see—the odds were scarcely even, were they? It wasn't likely anything would happen to you!" . . .
     "What's it matter to you now?" Trent said, with unintentional brutality. "You can't take it with you."

   • 1980 January 14, “Business: The Great Sell-Off”, in Time:

     Dealers also quietly bought gold fillings from morticians, proving that you can't take it with you.

   • 2007 August 3, Conrad de Aenlle, “All the right (and wrong) moves”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 July 2011:

     You can't take it with you, of course, but your intended heirs may not be able to take it with them, either, if you do not explicitly state through a will who is supposed to get what.