DEBT QUOTES III

quotations about debt

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Farewell Address, Sep. 17, 1796


Debt, however courteously it be offered, is the cup of a siren, and the wine, spiced and delicious though it be, an eating poison. The man out of debt, though with a flaw in his jerkin, a crack in his shoe-leather, and a hole in his hat, is still the son of liberty, free as the singing lark above him; but the debtor, though clothed in the utmost bravery, what is he but a serf out upon a holiday--a slave to be reclaimed at any instant by his owner, the creditor?

DOUGLAS JERROLD

Western Temperance Journal, Mar. 15, 1841


A slight debt produces a debtor; a heavy one an enemy.

A. S. DOANE

attributed, Day's Collacon


Home life ceases to be free and beautiful as soon as it is founded on borrowing and debt.

HENRIK IBSEN

A Doll's House


About the only thing you can acquire without money is debt.

EVAN ESAR

20,000 Quips & Quotes


Debt, grinding debt, whose iron face the widow, the orphan, and the sons of genius fear and hate; debt, which consumes so much time, which so cripples and disheartens a great spirit with cares that seem so base, is a preceptor whose lessons cannot be foregone, and is needed most by those who suffer from it most.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Nature and Other Essays


A debt is still unpaid, even if forgotten.

IRISH PROVERB


Speak not of my debts unless you mean to pay them.

ENGLISH PROVERB


Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.

HERBERT HOOVER

attributed, The Truth About the National Debt


Debt is the slavery of the free.

CROFT M. PENTZ

The Complete Book of Zingers


Think, 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; you will be in fear when you speak to him; you 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.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin


Never ever have a nickel in my jeans
Never ever have a debt to pay
Still I understand what real contentment means
Guess I was born that way

DEAN MARTIN

"Twilight on the Trail", Once in a While


A debt ... is just an exchange that has not been brought to completion.

DAVID GRAEBER

Debt: The First 5,000 Years


Knock out a small debt first so you get a quick win. Momentum is key.

DAVE RAMSEY

daily tip


I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.

SAKI

The Unbearable Bassington


Getting out of debt is like going on a diet. You can't vow to simply "do better." It will never work. Instead, you need to establish good habits and the guidelines you'll use to stick with them.

ERIC REED

"How to Get Out of Debt and Lower Your Interest Rates Now", The Street, December 4, 2018


A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

letter to Robert Morris, Apr. 30, 1781


By no means run in debt: take thine own measure,
Who cannot live on twenty pound a year,
Cannot on forty.

GEORGE HERBERT

The Church Porch


It shows nobility to be willing to increase your debt to a man to whom you already owe much.

CICERO

Epistulae ad Familiares


In many ways, student debt is like kerosene on a fire, accelerating the disparities raging across our communities.

SETH FROTMAN

attributed, "New Report Traces Dramatic Rise in Student Loan Debt in the Bay Area", KQED, April 23, 2019