This is a fairly obvious statement; if you owe money there is always the fear that something will happen to reduce your income. If you fail to pay up on time there will be penalties and eventually you might lose your assets. When you awake in the "wee small hours" and what if scenarios start running unbidden in your mind the proverb: neither a borrower nor a lender be seems like solid advice.
The person who gives a loan has the corresponding worry: "What if I don't get the money back?" As they say: If you owe a hundred and you can't pay you are in trouble. If you owe a million and can't pay the lender is in trouble.
In the modern economy, credit is essential for most people as they need to buy things now not in twenty-years time when they have saved up the money. To borrow to invest in a business or buy an essential can make good sense if you have carefully worked out the risk. To borrow to finance a luxury you do not really need is not wise. Previous generations would probably have called it sinful.
If something can go wrong it will go wrong so it is prudent to assume some setbacks and give yourself a safety margin.
Proverbs store the wisdom of ages in short, memorable lines with several layers of meaning. This blog states a weekly proverb and explores its meaning. Sir Winston Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, war leader, writer, painter, historian, bon viveur, whose mother was a United States citizen, recommended that people lacking formal education to learn proverbs. "The Wisdom of Nations lies in their Proverbs... Collect and learn them". William Penn, founder of the State of Pennsylvania.
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