Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Debt robs a man of his self-respect, and makes him almost despise himself.”
- Source
- The Art of Money Getting
- Date
- 1880
Meaning of “Debt robs a man of his self-respect, and…”
The rhetoric emphasizes the psychological burden Barnum associated with unpaid consumption debt, linking financial obligation with dependence and loss of confidence.
Where does it come from?
The Art of Money Getting, “Avoid Debt”; Project Gutenberg #8581. This is Barnum’s forceful moral rhetoric, not a clinical claim about every debtor’s mental state.
