Richard Overton (aged 107) passes his time with up to 12 cigars a day and a little whiskey in his morning coffee. The hooch helps keep Overton spry, he said. “I may drink a little in the evening too with some soda water, but that’s it,” he said. “Whiskey’s a good medicine. It keeps your muscles tender.”

Asked to explain his longevity, Winston Churchill said, “Smoke good cigars and drink fine brandy.” He considered these rites, not vices.

You can save money by denying yourself all those little vicious enjoyments for 50 years; but then what can you do with it? Money can’t save your infinitesimal soul. All the use that money can be put to is to purchase comfort and enjoyment in this life; therefore, as you are an enemy to comfort and enjoyment where is the use of accumulating cash?