Forgetfulness. A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
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
Debt is the worst poverty.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
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
Poverty is hard, but debt is horrible.—A man might as well have a smoky house and a scolding wife, which are said to be the two worst evils of our life.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
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
Running into debt isn’t so bad. It’s running into creditors that hurts.
—Unknown
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
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
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
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
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
To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.
—James Madison (1751–1836) American Founding Father, Statesman, President
No blister draws sharper than interest on money.—It works day and night; in fair weather and foul.—It gnaws at a man’s substance with invisible teeth.—It binds industry with its film, as a fly is bound with a spider’s web.—Debt rolls a man over and over, binding him hand and foot, and letting him hang on the fatal mesh, till the long-legged interest devours him.—One had better make his bed of Canada thistles, than attempt to lie at ease upon interest.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
If someone takes your time, it is the only debt that can’t be repaid.
—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
He that dies pays all his debts.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The creditor hath a better memory than the debtor.
—James Howell (c.1593–1666) Anglo-Welsh Writer, Historian
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
Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
God often pays debts without money.
—Irish Proverb
The nation is prosperous on the whole, but how much prosperity is there in a hole?
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
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
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
Never run into debt, not if you can find anything else to run into.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Out of debt, out of danger.
—Common Proverb
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
Rather go to bed with out dinner than to rise in debt.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Credit is a system whereby a person who cannot pay gets another person who cannot pay to guarantee that he can pay.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way. We pay it back.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson