JEFFERSON: “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.” JACKSON: “Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. But when you get in debt you become a slave. Therefore I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety. If your friend is in distress, aid him if you have the means to spare. If he fails to be able to return it, it is only so much lost.” DISRAELI: “Debt is the prolific mother of folly and of crime.”

the BAD

HAMILTON: “A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.” FDR: “Our national debt after all is an internal debt owed not only by the Nation but to the Nation. If our children have to pay interest on it they will pay that interest to themselves. A reasonable internal debt will not impoverish our children or put the Nation into bankruptcy.”

and the UGLY:

EZRA POUND: “Wars are made to make debt.”