Buy what thou hast no Need of
and
ere long thou shalt sell thy Necessaries.
~Benjamin Franklin
Be assured that it gives much more pain to the mind
to be in debt,
than to do without any article whatever
which we may seem to want.
-Thomas Jefferson*
*Jefferson, chronically in debt, would know that of which he spoke.
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Today’s 365 post: Zoe’s first honest-to-goodness haircut
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the wisdom of our founding fathers! Their message is timeless.
Jefferson is such an interesting person to study. He was masterfully brilliant and yet could never practice what he preached.
Yup. So much easier to say it than to do it.
At least he was consistent. He hated slavery yet had slaves. Hated debt yet had tons of it.
John Adams was much more consistent.
Two of my favorite Americans in history. I love hearing quotes from them but these are even more timely since by the early part of March my husband and I will be debt FREE except for our house! It is amazing how when you make the decision to live WITHIN your means you realize how much STUFF you really don’t NEED. While we are following Dave Ramsey’s 7 baby steps you have helped me with your encouraging and enjoyable posts. Thanks for helping keep me on track.
Wow, Mary! Congratulations to you and your husband!
That must feel wonderful.
You did really well.
Wow, that’s awesome, Mary! Congratulations!
Thanks!! My husband and I are working on getting out of debt and I am going to print off these quotes so that we can stay focused. So far we have paid off all of our credit cards and are just working on school and vehicle loans now, but it would have been so much better had I learned much earlier. We are, however, teaching our children different so they don’t have to worry about that feeling of debt (thank you Dave Ramsey).
Well at least Jefferson was able to still give good advice…nowadays if you ask people who are in debt they say:”Oh it’s good to have debt…blah blah blah” Maybe it makes them feel better?
I know! you don’t understand how the debt process works (insert sound of flapping gums) yadda yadda.
Here’s what I understand, every dollar of interest is a dollar I have to earn that I don’t get to choose how to use.
Interesting quotes… but I wonder what they would say about student loans?
definitly true- I owe on my mortgage and nothing else and there nothing like being debt free. I’ve had debt a LOT of my adult years and it’s a noose around the neck.
And yet Jefferson kept buying: luxury goods, food, slaves, books, clothes, fine wines, books, more books, good candles, did I mention books? The Library of Congress was founded because Jefferson was broke (again), so Congress bought his library in order to supply him with funds.
Yep…like I said, he would certainly have known the pain of being in debt!
Now, whether he was an authority on what it felt like to go without, that’s another topic entirely.
Now my coworkers are wondering why I’m laughing at work.
What wonderful quotes! Surely words we should try to live by.
I actually prefer to observe people than just listen or read things they say or how they tell people to live.If you haven’t actually accomplished something I certainly don’t hold any merit in your “words of wisdom”.I actually have paid off a house,put a daughter thru college(paid for) and paid for a wedding.I have actually paid off a car loan.I learned everything I could for 2 smart,hardworking women I called my grama’s.Two women I adored and learned a ton from.Neither had an extensive education or a high paying job.I wish more women wrote about HOW they accomplished things with limited resources.We could all use that type of wisdom passed on.
Hence we’re looking at this blog… yes, respect has to be earned, doesn’t it?
Amen and amen…LOVE those quotes!!! Good advice!!! Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather
so true and i learned this lesson the hard way.still paying off debts.but with my hubby not working for 2 years after 2 redundancies.it wasn’t easy.had to use credit card for groceries.
It’s not a presidential quote, and not about debt, but I always smile when I think of Thoreau’s “I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.” Seems to fit in here!