“Would you know the value of money? Go and try to borrow some.”Benjamin Franklin · Almanahul sărmanului Richard · 1758 · Almanahul sărmanului Richard, ediția 1758
You never know the real price of money until you have to borrow it.
Franklin offers no theoretical definition of money but sends the reader to experience. When you have money, it seems ordinary; when you must borrow, you discover its true price: interest, the shame of asking, the power the lender holds over you. The mechanism is that lack turns an abstraction into a lived need. Poor Richard's Almanack delivered exactly this kind of practical lesson, through proverbs teaching financial independence as a form of personal freedom.
Franklin doesn't just say borrowing is expensive. He says borrowing changes you. When you ask for money, you stop being merely a consumer and become a debtor. Whoever lends you money gains a say over your choices. You might postpone a resignation, a move, or a refusal, just to avoid upsetting someone you depend on. Borrowed money, then, comes with a hidden currency: your independence. Think of a friend who lends you their car. Afterwards, it's hard to say no to their next favor. The natural next question is: how can you tell in advance what a debt really costs?
Why it matters A useful lesson in today's easy-credit world: you learn money's real price only when you sign for it.