The Professor and the Student

A college professor, on the first day of class, asked some of his students what their goals were for their lives and careers after college in order to break the ice and learn some of their names. One student in particular, who was wearing a business suit, answered, "I'd love to earn great sums of money on Wall Street".
"Interesting", said the professor, "And do you hope to fall in love? To have children and raise them well? To do good deeds with said money? To create anything?"
"No", replied the student. "I don't care about any of that. I just want to be super-rich".
"Well", said the professor, "What do you suppose will happen to your money once you die, when you won't have a wife who can live on it if she outlives you, children to inherit it and live more comfortably, or a charity to which it will all go? You can't take the money with you to the grave".
"And so what? You can't take your knowledge and research projects into your grave. At least I'll live lavishly while I'm still on earth".
"Well", answered the professor, "At least I'm not so foolish as to think that having grand amounts of money will satisfy me. I'm also bright enough to know that my research may contribute to the overall good, while simply having tons of money and keeping it to yourself: that achieves nothing at all".

-Kyle Henson

Photo Attribution: By loki11 (l'illustration Européenne 1871 no.38 page 300) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons