Short reckonings make long friends.
Meaning: Settling debts promptly prevents resentment from festering and eroding relationships over time.
Origin: Settling accounts promptly keeps friendships free of resentment. A book of 1530 already quotes "the common proverb" that often reckoning holds long fellowship.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and German
- French: Les bons comptes font les bons amis (literally: Short reckonings make long friends)
- Spanish: Cuentas claras, amistades largas. (literally: Clear accounts, long friendships.)
- German: Kurze Rechnung, lange Freundschaft (literally: Short reckoning, long friendship)
More proverbs about Perseverance
- Self praise is no recommendation. — Boasting about yourself undermines your credibility; let others vouch for your worth inst…
- Short cuts are sometimes longest. — Rushing through tasks hastily often requires redoing work, consuming more time than caref…
- Never sigh but send. — Regret without action wastes energy; channel dissatisfaction into purposeful effort inste…
- Tis sooner said than done. — Accomplishing something requires more effort and time than merely announcing your intenti…
- Great spenders are bad lenders. — Those who squander their own resources lack the discipline to manage others' borrowed mon…
- Take time by the forelock. — Seizing opportunities requires swift action before they slip away or pass beyond your gra…
From our idioms
- Séparer le bon grain de l'ivraie — To distinguish what is valuable from what is worthless.
- Se demander si c'est du lard ou du cochon — To be unable to tell what something is or how it is meant.
- Une autre paire de manches — A different matter entirely; a far harder proposition.