You can take a chance with any man who pays his bills on time.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
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
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
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
Forgetfulness. A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
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
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
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