In time that $22,000 [inheritance] will inevitably go down to $20,000, then $15,000, and before you know it, it will be gone. Most likely the balance on Karen’s secret credit card will be higher as well. What happened to Karen happens to most of us. We’re afraid to really look at our finances head-on, to see where everything really goes. We all work so hard for our money, yet don’t let it work for us because we simply will not deal with it, will not check the amount we spend against the amount we bring in. And not dealing with money is just a different way of dealing with it — badly.

— Suze Orman, The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom

If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough. In an environment of more is better, “enough” is like the horizon − always receding. You lose the ability to identify that point of sufficiency at which you can choose to stop.

— Joe Dominguez, Your Money or Your Life

But the thing is, [debt] is worse than obesity, because this is a problem that you can hide. It’s a problem that you can deny that you have. You can have a big fat lifestyle, and you can pretend you’re making a lot of money because you can just finance it and pretend that you’re going to pay for it tomorrow. So who needs this diet? Anybody who is not saving anything, anybody who is living paycheck to paycheck, anybody who is fighting with their spouse about money, and anybody who wants a better financial future tomorrow.

— Jean Chatzky, as told on Oprah: “Join the Debt Diet,” February 17, 2006.

Imagine this:  You are sitting on your sofa watching the television coverage of a disaster.  Something like Hurricane Katrina has just happened and you want to help.  You would love to write a check for a thousand dollars, or ten thousand dollars, or maybe even just ten dollars, but you can’t — you’re broke.  When you are rich, you have the freedom to do that kind of stuff.  Which does more good — wanting to help or being able to help?

— Larry Winget, You’re Broke Because You Want to Be

Comfortable means you don’t feel bad but you don’t feel all that great, either.  Most people are comfortable.  That’s the problem.  Comfortable people don’t feel bad enough to change but don’t feel good enough to really be able to enjoy their lives.  Either way, their future is doomed.

People never make changes when they are comfortable.  You have to get uncomfortable in order to make a positive change in your life.

— Larry Winget, You’re Broke Because You Want to Be

It is human nature to want it and want it now; it is also a sign of immaturity. Being willing to delay pleasure for a greater result is a sign of maturity. However, our culture teaches us to live for the now. “I want it!” we scream, and we can get it, if we are willing to go into debt. Debt is a means to obtain the “I want its” before we can afford them.

— Dave Ramsey, Total Money Makeover

Many people have not learned to delay gratification and want in their twenties for what took their parents 40 years to earn and acquire.  Many fall into the trap of focusing on what they want now instead of what matters most long term.  …One of the biggest mistakes we make in life is that we give up what we want most for what we want right now.  The prosperous have learned to resist the temptation to lose what matters most long-term for the short-term pleasure of something now.

— Cameron Taylor, Does Your Bag Have Holes?

Every choice carries a consequence.  For better or worse, each choice is the unavoidable consequence of its predecessor.  There are not exceptions.  If you can accept that a bad choice carries the seed of its own punishment, why not accept the fact that a good choice yields desirable fruit?

— Gary Ryan Blair

My life and business style was/is to be financially prudent and very honest, to hedge against potential bad outcomes, etc.. I can’t begin to tell you how well that worked out and how I watched others that had a deficit of economic common sense and business morality crash and burn in the same area of biz I was in. The best way I can explain this is that it’s best to not kid yourself and be honest with yourself — something most people fail at.

— Expy, message board poster

One of the advantages of living a life of economic solvency is you don’t have to spend too much time in petty disputes with bank clerks.

— “Trail,” blog commenter, regarding an individual who was upset that her bank was reducing her HELOC

There are people who are addicted to shopping, and then there are people who just spend more than they make. More and more people every year fall into the latter category. According to a Roper survey, fewer Americans in 2004 than in the two previous years said they planned to cut back when it comes to buying luxuries, high-tech items, eating out in restaurants or buying items for their homes. Unfortunately, if you’re spending more than you make, you’re digging deeper and deeper into debt.

— Jean Chatzky, Pay It Down

Often the best thing you can do to create mastery in any area of your life is to raise a belief to the level of conviction. Remember, conviction has the power to drive you to action, to push you through all kids of obstacles. Beliefs can do this as well, but some areas of your life may require the added emotional intensity of conviction. … The conviction that you are an intelligent person who can always find a way to turn things around can help steer you through some of the toughest times in your life.
— Anthony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within

The Edge is a miserable place to live. People who exist from paycheck to paycheck live there. They spend all they have. And when something unexpected happens, they must either take a flying leap into the darkness below or run to the credit cards, the finance company, or worse, the bankruptcy court.

— Mary Hunt, Debt-Proof Living

The single most significant decision you make on a daily basis is your choice of attitude.  It’s the difference between letting life happen to you or taking control and making it happen.  Debt-proofing your attitude is the difference between your financial situation controlling your life or you taking control of your finances.

— Mary Hunt, Debt-Proof Living

Let honesty and industry be thy constant companions, and spend one penny less than thy clear gains; then shall thy pocket begin to thrive; creditors will not insult, nor want oppress, nor hungerness bite, nor nakedness freeze thee.

— Benjamin Franklin