Debt is one of the most crippling things in one’s life. However, debt can be removed with discipline and dedication! Because of this, I have rounded up some of the most insightful debt quotes and sayings! 💰
Below, you will find some great debt quotes that are sure to motivate, inspire, awaken, and provide you with the knowledge for knocking over your debts.
Side note: If I have missed any must-have quotes or sayings about debt, please include them down below as I will be sure to include them in future updates! 😃
79+ Staggering & Wise Debt Quotes!
1. “He who promises runs in debt.” – The Talmud
2. “Debts and lies are generally mixed together.” – Francois Rabelais
3. “Creditors have better memories than debtors.” – Benjamin Franklin
4. “A man in debt is so far a slave.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. “Never spend your money before you have it.” – Thomas Jefferson
6. “I’m in debt. I am a true American.” – Balki Bartokomous
7. “Debt is dumb. Cash is king.” – Dave Ramsey
8. “No man’s credit is as good as his money.” – E.W. Howe
9. “Debt is a great source of inner unhappiness.” – Debasish Mridha
10. “When you get in debt you become a slave.” – Andrew Jackson
11. “Debt is the worst poverty.” – Thomas Fuller
12. “He that dies pays all debts.” – William Shakespeare
13. “Debt is normal. Be weird.” – Dave Ramsey
14. “Lying rides upon debt’s back.” – Benjamin Franklin
15. “Only debt is forever.” – Charles Stross
16. “The borrower is servant to the lender.” – The Bible
17. “Interest on debts grow without rain.” – Yiddish Proverb
18. “In God we trust; all others must pay cash.” – American Proverb
19. “Rather go to bed supperless, than rise in debt.” – Benjamin Franklin
20. “A church debt is the devil’s salary.” – Henry Ward Beecher
21. “Debt basically enables people to live a lie.” – Rachel Cruze
22. It is the debtor that is ruined by hard times.” – Rutherford B. Hayes
23. “Learn how to prioritize all your debt. And did you know student loan debt is the most dangerous debt any of us can have?” – Suze Orman
24. “Debt on anything that depreciates is disastrous.” – Orrin Woodward
25. “A mortgage casts a shadow on the sunniest field.” – Robert G. Ingersoll
26. “A habit of debt is very injurious to the memory.” – Austin O’Malley
27. “A man who pays his bills on time is soon forgotten.” – Oscar Wilde
28. “There are some debts that can’t be paid with money.” – Steven J. Carroll
29. “A true lover always feels in debt to the one he loves.” – Ralph W. Sockman
30. “Poets, like friends to whom you are in debt, you hate.” – William Wycherley
31. “The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt.” – Benjamin Franklin
32. “Good times are when people make debts to pay in bad times.” – Robert Quinlin
33. “Worrying is like paying on a debt that may never come due.” – Will Rogers
34. “Debt is one person’s liability, but another person’s asset.” – Paul Krugman
35. “He looks the whole world in the face for he owes not any man.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
36. “Debt can turn a free, happy person into a bitter human being.” – Michael Mihalik
37. “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.” – Herbert Hoover
38. “When a man is in love or in debt, someone else has the advantage.” – Bill Balance
39. “Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need most.” – American Proverb
40. “Ten million dollars after I’d become a star I was deeply in debt.” – Sammy Davis, Jr.
41. “A hundred wagon loads of thoughts will not pay a single ounce of debt.” – Italian Proverb
42. “Debt is a mistake between lender and borrower, and both should suffer.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
43. “Debts are like children: the smaller they are the more noise they make.” – Spanish Proverb
44. “Running into debt isn’t so bad. It’s running into creditors that hurts.” – Unknown
45. “I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety.” – Andrew Jackson
46. “Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.” –Â Ambrose Bierce
47. “Promises make debts, and debts make promises, but promises never pay debts.” – Charles H. Spurgeon
48. “We can pay our debts to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves.” – John Buchan
49. “Debt is the secret foe of thrift, as vice and idleness are its open enemies.” – James H. Aughey
50. “Christmas is the season when you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money.” – Unknown
51. “I like my players to be married and in debt. That’s the way you motivate them.” – Ernie Banks
52. “The only man who sticks closer to you in adversity than a friend is a creditor.” – Unknown
53. “If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.” – Earl Wilson
54. “Debts are nowadays like children begot with pleasure, but brought forth in pain.” – Moliere
55. “Wouldst thou shut up the avenues of ill, Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
56. “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan doth oft lose both itself and friend.” – William Shakespeare
57. “The man who never has money enough to pay his debts has too much of something else.” – James Lendall Basford
58. “Debt is like any other trap, easy enough to get into, but hard enough to get out of.” – Josh Billings
59. “It is poor judgment to countersign another’s note, to become responsible for his debts.” – Bible
60. “If I owe you a pound, I have a problem; but if I owe you a million, the problem is yours.” – John Maynard Keynes
61. “There are four things every person has more of than they know; sins, debt, years, and foes.” – Persian Proverb
62. “Some people use one half their ingenuity to get into debt, and the other half to avoid paying it.” – George Prentice
63. “Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you set about retiring them.” – Ogden Nash
64. “This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.” – Earl Wilson
65. “Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well.” – Andrew Jackson
66. “What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?” – Adam Smith
67. “Forgetfulness. A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.” – Ambrose Bierce
68. “Tis against some men’s principle to pay interest, and seems against others’ interest to pay the principle.” – Benjamin Franklin
69. “Today, there are three kinds of people: the have’s, the have-not’s, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-have’s.” – Earl Wilson
70. “There are but two ways of paying debt: Increase of industry in raising income, increase of thrift in laying out.” – Thomas Carlyle
71. “Debt, we’ve learned, is the match that lights the fire of every crisis. Every crisis has its own set of villains – pick your favorite: bankers, regulators, central bankers, politicians, overzealous consumers, credit rating agencies – but all require one similar ingredient to create a true crisis: too much leverage.” – Andrew Ross Sorkin
72. “The debt of gratitude we owe our mother and father goes forward, not backward. What we owe our parents is the bill presented to us by our children.” – Nancy Friday
73. “Debt is part of the human condition. Civilization is based on exchanges – on gifts, trades, loans – and the revenges and insults that come when they are not paid back.” – Margaret Atwood
74. “Small debts are like small shot; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound; great debts are like cannon; of loud noise, but little danger.” – Samuel Johnson
75. “Debt is such a powerful tool, it is such a useful tool, it’s much better than colonialism ever was because you can keep control without having an army, without having a whole administration.” – Susan George
76. “The Millennial Generation is being crushed by soaring college costs and student loan debt, and as lawmakers, we must find solutions to address affordability and flexibility in higher education.” – Elise Stefanik
77. “Debt certainly isn’t always a bad thing. A mortgage can help you afford a home. Student loans can be a necessity in getting a good job. Both are investments worth making, and both come with fairly low-interest rates.” – Jean Chatzky
78. “Even if you feel like your debt is just never going to go away, think long and hard before declaring bankruptcy. Declaring bankruptcy means that getting a loan for anything will be next to impossible for the next 10 years.” – Alexa Von Tobel
79. “In the Middle Ages, the rich spent their money carelessly on extravagant luxuries, whereas peasants lived frugally minding every penny. Today, the tables have turned. The rich take great care managing their assets and investments while the less well go into debt buying cars and televisions they don’t really need.” – Yuval Noah Harari
That’s all folks! Hopefully, this list of debt quotes has helped you to stop buying on credit, pay off your debts, or see how harmful getting loans can be.
If you want to learn more about how to pay off your debts quickly, this article here is a really great starting point that takes you through step by step!