Surplus wisdom

Faithful Scuttlebutt readers are the steady source for the Curmudgeon's wisdom shared at the close of each newsletter. Some are usable, some are not. Here is one that did not fit the requirements, but was too cute to toss:

A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre Museum. After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings, and made it safely to his van. However, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas.

When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied, "Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings. I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh."

(See if you have De Gaulle to send this on to someone else. I sent it to you because I figured I had nothing Toulouse.)