...Disappointment shuts up your Friends Purse forever. The most trifling Actions that affect a Man' s Credit, are to be regarded. The Sound of your Hammer...him easy Six Months longer. But if he sees you at a Billiard Table, or hears your Voice in a Tavern, when you should be at Work, he sends for his Money...

...maxims as "Remember, that time is money" and "The sound of your hammer at five in the morning, or eight at night, heard by a creditor, makes him easy six...sees you at a billiard-table, or hears your voice in a tavern, when you should be at work, he sends for his money the next day," Weber, Protestant Ethic,...

...in a commerce-driven society where, as in the following passage, "credit" ceases to be a metaphor: The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit...The sound of your hammer at five in the morning, or eight at night, heard by a creditor, makes him easy six months longer; but if he sees you at a billiard...