Wasting Money

In his novel Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) said wasting money is like drink to a drunkard. The first time it might hurt, the second time is easier, and the third time...well, you should read it yourself.

In this passage, the character Levin realizes that he and his wife are spending money they do not have. Perhaps this experience is common in capital cities everywhere.

"Only during the first days of his stay in Moscow Levin had been struck by the expenditure, strange to one living in the country, unproductive but inevitable, that was expected of him on every side. But by now he had grown used to it. That had happened to him in this matter which is said to happen to drunkards--the first glass sticks in the throat, the second flies down like a hawk, but after the third they're like tiny little birds. "