Let me re-phrase, by quoting Curly (not the stooge one):

Curly - "Do you know what the secret of life is?"

Mitch - "What, your finger?"

Curly - "One thing, just one thing. You stick to that, the rest don't mean shoot[edit]."

Mitch - "But what is the one thing?"

Curly - "You got to figure that out for yourself."


Need another hint, ask Ebenezer. He'll tell you what the one thing is.

I am a bit surprised you thought of ego and greed first. I suppose I didn't get the point across well enough at the beginning.