Boswell on the Credit Crunch:

...'I now made a very clear calculation of my expenses for the year, and found that I would be able to save £50 out of my allowance... Not satisfied with saving £50, I went to work still nearer, wishing to save £20 more, and with great thought and assiduity did I compute. In short, I found myself turning very fond of money and ruminating with a kind of transport on the idea of being worth £70 at the year's end. The desire of being esteemed a clever economist was no doubt mixed in with it, but I seriously think that sheer love of coin was my predominant principle...
I have observed in some preceding period of this my journal that making money is one of the greatest pleasures in life, as it is very lasting and is continually increasing. But it must be observed that a great share of anxiety is the constant concomitant of this passion, so that the mind is as much hurt in one way as it is pleased in another... To keep the golden mean between stinginess and prodigality is the point I should aim at.'

James Boswell, 9 February 1763