When one has debts, the least one can do is to pay the interest.
-- Where did the principal go?
-- It would take too long to tell.

A part of it was once upon a time put in cartridges, which made the finest smoke in the world; with another part men were hired who were maimed on foreign ground, after having ravaged it.

Then, when these expenses brought the enemy upon us, he would not leave without taking money with him, which we had to borrow.
-- What good do I get from it now?
-- The satisfaction of saying: How proud am I of being a Frenchman When I behold the triumphal column, And the humiliation of leaving to my heirs an estate burdened with a perpetual rent.

Still one must pay what he owes, no matter how foolish a use may have been made of the money.

That accounts for one hogshead, but the five others?
-- One is required to pay for public services, the civil list, the judges who decree the restitution of the bit of land your neighbor wants to appropriate, the policemen who drive away robbers while you sleep, the men who repair the road leading to the city, the priest who baptizes your children, the teacher who educates them, and myself, your servant, who does not work for nothing.
-- Certainly, service for service.