Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.
Debt
A hog upon trust grunts till he’s paid for.
A hundred wagonfuls of sorrow will not pay a handful of debt.Italian.
A hundred years of regret pay not a farthing of debt.French, German.
A light debt makes a debtor; a heavy one an enemy.Italian.
A loan should come laughing home.
A man in debt is stoned every year.Spanish.
A pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt.
A shut mouth incurs no debt.Gaelic.
A sick man sleeps but not a debtor.Spanish.
A small debt makes a debtor; a heavy one an enemy.Publius Syrus.
A thrush paid for is better than a turkey owing for.
Afttimes the cautioner pays the debt.
Better a coarse coat for a gulden than a fine one in debt.German.
Better go to bed supperless than rise in debt.
Debt hath a small beginning but a giant’s growth and strength.Benjamin Disraeli.
Debt is an evil conscience.
Debt is a bitter slavery to the free born.Publius Syrus.
Debt is the prolific mother of folly and crime.Benjamin Disraeli.
Debt is the worst poverty.
Debts turn freemen into slaves.Greek.
Happy is the man who is out of debt.Latin.
He cannot pay his debts. Literal: If I kill him he has no skin, if I scrape him he has no flesh.Chinese.
He has but a short Lent who must pay money at Easter.
He that gets out of debt grows rich.
He that has one hundred and one and owes one hundred and two the Lord have mercy on him.
He who gets out of debt enriches himself.French.
He who is without debt is without credit.Italian.
He who owes nothing fears not the sheriff’s officer.Latin.
He who oweth is all in the wrong.
He who pledges or promises runs in debt.Spanish.
How happy is he that owes nothing but to himself.
If you pay what you owe, what you’re worth you’ll know.Spanish.
It is better to pay and have but little left, than to have much and be always in debt.
Keep out of debt.
O’ ill debtors men get aiths.
Of bad debtors you may take spoilt herrings.Danish.
Out of debt, out of danger.
Rather check your appetite than get in debt, and though penniless be patient.Chinese.
Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt.
Say nothing of my debts unless you mean to pay them.
Sins and debts are always more than we think them to be.
The debts go to the next heir.German.
The second vice is lying, the first being that of owing money.
Who lives on the score has shame evermore.French.
Who pays a debt creates capital.Italian.
Without debt, without care.Italian.