Credit buying is much like being drunk. The buzz happens immediately and gives you a lift… The hangover comes the day after.
—Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) American Psychologist, Advice Columnist
I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared…. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt…. We must make our choice between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude…. If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and our comforts, in our labors and in our amusements…. If we can prevent the Government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Forgetfulness. A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Let us live is as small a circle as we will, we are either debtors or creditors before we have had time look around.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Bankruptcy is a sacred state, a condition beyond conditions, as theologians might say, and attempts to investigate it are necessarily obscene, like spiritualism. One knows only that he has passed into it and lives beyond us, in a condition not ours.
—John Updike (1932–2009) American Novelist, Poet, Short-Story Writer
Think what you do when you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty. If you cannot pay at the time, you will be ashamed to see your creditor; will be in fear when you speak to him; will make poor, pitiful, sneaking excuses, and by degrees come to lose your veracity, and sink into base, downright lying; for the second vice is lying, the first is running in debt. A freeborn man ought not to be ashamed nor afraid to see or speak to any man living, but poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Words pay no debts.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A man who owes a little can clear it off in a little time, and, if he is prudent, he will: whereas a man, who, by long negligence, owes a great deal, despairs of ever being able to pay, and therefore never looks into his accounts at all.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; you will find it a calamity.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A small debt makes a man your debtor, a large one makes him your enemy.
—Seneca the Elder (Marcus Annaeus Seneca) (c.55 BCE–c.40 CE) Roman Rhetorician
Debt is to a man what the serpent is to the bird; its eye fascinates, its breath poisons, its coil crushes sinew and bone, its jaw is the pitiless grave.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
A small debt produces a debtor; a large one, an enemy.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
To John I owed great obligation; but John, unhappily, thought fit to publish it to all the nation: Sure John and I are more than quit.
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721) English Poet, Diplomat
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on Paul’s support.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
God often pays debts without money.
—Irish Proverb
Man was lost if he went to a usurer, for the interest ran faster than a tiger upon him.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
The nation is prosperous on the whole, but how much prosperity is there in a hole?
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
You know it is not my interest to pay the principal, or my principal to pay the interest.
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) Irish-born British Playwright, Poet, Elected Rep
We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way. We pay it back.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson
Youth is in danger until it learns to look upon debts as furies.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Rather go to bed with out dinner than to rise in debt.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
You can take a chance with any man who pays his bills on time.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Out of debt, out of danger.
—Common Proverb
The payment of debts is necessary for social order. The non-payment is quite equally necessary for social order. For centuries humanity has oscillated, serenely unaware, between these two contradictory necessities.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
A creditor is worse than a slave-owner; for the master owns only your person, but a creditor owns your dignity, and can command it.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Always live within your income, even if you have to borrow money to do so.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
It is said that the world is in a state of bankruptcy, that the world owes the world more than the world can pay.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The 1980s are to debt what the 1960s were to sex. The 1960s left a hangover. So will the 1980s.
—James Grant (b.1946) American Writer, Publisher
Small debts are like small gun shot; they are rattling around us on all sides and one can scarcely escape being wounded. Large debts are like canons, they produce a loud noise, but are of little danger.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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