“One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.”

“Those who pay their bills on time are soon forgotten. It is only by not paying one's bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.”

“One can never pay in gratitude: one can only pay 'in kind' somewhere else in life. ”

“No one can obtain felicity by pursuit. This explains why one of the elements of being happy is the feeling that a debt of gratitude is owed, a debt impossible to pay. Now, we do not owe gratitude to ourselves. To be conscious of gratitude is to acknowledge a gift.”

“Lillian did not know then that the one who believes he can pay this early debt meets a bottomless well. Because the first denial has set off a fatality of revenge which no amount of giving can placate.”

“We can pay our debts to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves.”