Hume's Political Discourses · David Hume
NOTES, OF PUBLIC CREDIT.
A prudent man, in reality, would rather lend to the public immediately after they had taken a sponge to their debts, than at present; as much as an opulent knave, even though one could not force him to pay, is a preferable debtor to an honest bankrupt; for the former, in order to carry on business, may find it his interest to discharge his debts, where they are not exorbitant. The latter has it not in his power. The reasoning of Tacitus (_Hist._ lib. 3), as it is eternally true, is very applicable to our present case: “Sed vulgus ad magnitudinem beneficiorum aderat: Stultissimus quisque pecuniis mercabatur: Apud sapientes cassa habebantur, quæ neque dari neque accipi, salva republica, poterant.” The public is a debtor, whom no man can oblige to pay. The only check which the creditors have on it is the interest of preserving credit; an interest which may easily be overbalanced by a very great debt, and by a difficult and extraordinary emergence, even supposing that credit irrecoverable. Not to mention that a present necessity often forces states into measures which are, strictly speaking, against their interest.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.