Those have a short Lent, who owe money to be paid at Easter.

This proverb is associated with Benjamin Franklin’s long-running habit of collecting and circulating practical maxims about thrift, debt, and time—often in the voice of “Poor Richard.” In colonial Anglo-American life, Lent (the penitential season before Easter) was widely recognized as a period of restraint and reflection, and Easter was also a common settling time for accounts, rents, and wages. The saying plays on that calendar reality: for a debtor facing an Easter deadline, the weeks of Lent feel compressed by anxiety and obligation. It reflects Franklin’s broader moral-economical outlook that debt is a form of bondage and that financial commitments shape one’s experience of time.

Franklin’s point is that looming obligations make time feel shorter: when repayment is due at Easter, Lent seems to fly by. The wit depends on the contrast between Lent’s intended slowness—self-denial, patience, spiritual preparation—and the debtor’s hurried, pressured mindset. More broadly, the proverb warns that debt steals peace and freedom; it turns even a season meant for contemplation into a countdown. The line also implies a practical ethic: plan ahead, avoid borrowing when possible, and meet obligations promptly, because financial deadlines govern attention and compress the felt span of life.