“Love is a debt, she thought. When the bill comes, you pay in grief.”

“As you must weigh and choose between your love
and filial duty, which will turn the scale?
She put aside all vows of love and troth—
a child first pays the debts of birth and care.”

“I write for love, but love doesn’t pay the bills.”

“When I treat other people with kindness and love, it is part of my way of paying my debt to God and the world for the privilege of living on this planet.”

“Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe.”

“991. Speake not of my debts, unlesse you mean to pay them.”

“My love for you is a prayer, she thought. Love is the only prayer I know. She thought she had never loved him so much as at this moment, when she heard the convent door close, hard and final, and felt the wall shutting her in.”

“When Piedmont died, I had to pay him back for my life. I found out there's another debt to pay — for the privilege of being alive. I thought Sophie was my reward for trying to live a good life. Uh uh. There is no payoff — not now.”

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

“Are you truly living life or just paying bills until you die?”