Out of debt, out of danger.
—Common Proverb
Some people use one half their ingenuity to get into debt, and the other half to avoid paying it.
—George D. Prentice (1802–70) American Journalist, Editor
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
If someone takes your time, it is the only debt that can’t be repaid.
—Unknown
Debt is the worst poverty.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
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
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
It is very iniquitous to make me pay debts, you have no idea, of the pain it gives one.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
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
You can take a chance with any man who pays his bills on time.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Words pay no debts.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
He that dies pays all his debts.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Promises make debt, and debt makes promises.
—Dutch Proverb
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
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
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
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
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on Paul’s support.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Better to go to bed hungry than to wake up in debt.
—Common Proverb
Money is a poor man’s credit card.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience; you will find it a calamity.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Buying on the installment plan makes the months shorter and the years longer.
—Unknown
There are but two ways of paying debt—increase of industry in raising income, increase of thrift in laying out.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
A small debt produces a debtor; a large one, an enemy.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin 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
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
Nowadays people can be divided into three classes—the haves the have-nots and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-haves
—Earl Wilson (1907–87) American Broadway Gossip Columnist
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
One day Donald Trump will discover that he is owned by Lutheran Brotherhood and must re negotiate his debt load with a committee of silent Norwegians who don’t understand why anyone would pay more than $120.00 for a suit.
—Garrison Keillor (b.1942) American Author, Humorist, Radio Personality
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