P. G. Wodehouse

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.

I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety.

Small debts are like small shot; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound.

If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

A mortgage casts a shadow on the sunniest field.

Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt?

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.

I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse.

Forgetfulness. A gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscience.

Debt is dumb. Cash is king.

A decent society wouldn’t push millions of student into debt. It would recognize that higher education isn’t mainly a personal investment. It is a public good.

Do not accustom yourself to consider debt only as an inconvenience. You will find it a calamity.

You loan your friend money. You see them again, they don’t say nothin’ ’bout the money. ‘Hi, how ya doin’? How’s ya mama doing?’ Man, how’s my money doin’?

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.

You should always live within your income, even if you have to borrow to do so.