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

The devil you know is much better than the devil you don’t.  Make a complete list of your debts and creditors.  Some people panic at this point, as if committing this information to paper will breathe life into a dormant monster.  If you’re one of these, realize that there is nothing in this action that will hurt you or worsen your situation.  These debts already exist.  If you keep trying to reject them from your consciousness, you’ll only open yourself to increasing pressure and difficulty.

— Jerrold Mundis, How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously

Lazy, ignorant and dysfunctional can only be burned out of a person with real pain. Pain is a great teacher for those who will not learn in any other fashion.

— Sushihorn, message-board poster

All you have to do to begin your recovery and open the door to total freedom is avoid taking on any new debt today.  I don’t avoid debt tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year.  That’s too much to think about.  I just do it today, one day at a time.  And these days, I have more prosperity in my life and enjoy it more than ever I did before.

— Jerrold Mundis, How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously

Actually, respect, approval, and admiration — even friendship and love — are given much more freely to people who are confident and secure in their personal finances, who are solvent and who’ve stopped debting, than they are to those who aren’t and who haven’t.

— Jerrold Mundis, How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously

The list of reasons for not doing very well in your life is actually a very short list.  It should contain only your name.

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

Your height is a permanent condition.  So is the color of your eyes.  Your debt is not.  It’s a situation.  Situations are temporary.  A cold is a situation.  You didn’t always have it; you won’t have it forever.  Debt is nothing more than that.

— Jerrold Mundis, How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously

I had a guy tell me the reason he couldn’t get ahead and pay his bills was because he wasn’t good at math.  Lousy excuse.  Especially since this guy was only working nine hours per week!  Math wasn’t his problem.  Work was his problem.

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

I was just like most people who finally had money.  Rather than act responsibly with my newfound cash flow, I felt I was entitled to make up for lost time by eating out every night, hitting the clubs, taking nice vacations, and filling my life with whatever gadgets I wanted.  I thought picking up the tab was a great way to impress people; so what that I couldn’t really afford to do it?  In the end, I had to learn the hard way that success is not solely about making more money.  It is about knowing where the money you make is going.

— Suze Orman, Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, & Broke

It may be ugly for you and things may be truly bleak, but you can always get ahead.  I am not going to insult you by telling you it will be easy.  At times, digging out of your mountain of debt to get ahead will be overwhelming.  But know this:  You can do it if you want to do it.  You may not be able to make your life perfect, but you can certainly make it better than it is.  The biggest mistake you can make is to believe that your situation is hopeless.  It’s not hopeless because you aren’t helpless.  Accept responsibility for where you are and then go about fixing it.

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

Affirmations are fine, but affirmations alone don’t change your life.  You can say, “I am rich, I am rich, I am rich” until your face turns the color of money, but until you stop doing stupid stuff with your money and start doing smart stuff with your money, you will still be broke.  Affirmation without implementation is self-delusion.

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

The first ritual of wealth and the most important rule of financial success is: Pay yourself first; it’s okay to keep some.

— Tod Barnhart, The Five Rituals of Wealth

Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants.

— Esther de Waal