Julian Baggini Quotes

There is an attitude that we should be able to have everything. No, you shouldn't be able to have anything. I'd like a helicopter, but I can't afford a helicopter, so I don't buy one. People are buying stuff they can't afford on credit. I bought my Ford hybrid with cash.

I don't really spend money like crazy. I buy what I need and what I really want, and if I'm buying expensive things I do think about the purchase many times before I buy it.

I used to buy nice clothes and drive a nice car when I couldn't afford it. But I spent all my money doing it, and now I don't have to. I like nice things. I like to travel in a certain style. I like to live in a nice place.

A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it.

Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you should buy it.

I don't like expensive things... I just can't help looking in a magazine for the splurge and the save.

Overspending is as certain a part of the holiday season as overeating. But pushing away from both the table and the cash register at least a little bit sooner can make the post-holiday hangover hurt a little bit less.

I try to differentiate between what I need and don't need. I talk to my wife and children before buying things.

If you don't need it, don't buy it.

If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.

If I could only have cash, I know that I would spend very little.

Taking stock of what you own, when done correctly and thoroughly, helps dampen the urge to shop frivolously.

I can definitely tell when mum has got money because then she likes to go shopping to spend it, whereas dad is steadier and avoids splurges. I like to think I've inherited both sides.

You can examine the whole 19th century from the point of view of who would have maxed out their credit cards. Emma Bovary would have maxed hers out. No question. Mr. Scrooge would not have. He would have snipped his up.

I don't go to the sale rack. But I wouldn't say I am decadent in my spending. I am careful.

Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessities.

Anyone who lives within his means suffers from a lack of imagination.

I tend to be pretty conservative in the way I spend money.

I don't shop as much as I find.

I'm not a frugal person, but I find it difficult to be extravagant materially.

I am not frugal - I'm quite a big spender - but not on credit.

I am not the sort of person who will wake up and go and buy myself a Ferrari.

We live in a culture built on debt, so we are encouraged to have no self control.

Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have on things we do not need?

In January we start saving money, getting out of credit card debt, funding our retirement accounts, and we're doing wonderful. Then, every single year like clockwork, starting in November, all of you fall into this trap that says, 'I have to buy this gift... I can't show up at this party and not have something for everybody.'