from rags to riches

Idioms  

1. From being poor to being wealthy, especially through one's own efforts. For example, The invention catapulted the scientist from rags to riches. Horatio Alger (1834–1899) popularized this theme in some 130 best-selling novels, in which the hero, through hard work and thrift, pulled himself out of poverty to wealth and happiness.

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Example Sentences

The 1979 story of a young woman's journey from rags to riches went from bestseller to super-seller in a year and stayed on the New York Times list for 43 weeks.

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2024

California tends to go from rags to riches, bounty to poverty when it comes to rain, Maue said.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 2, 2023

Montañez made it, from rags to riches, from factory floor to corporate suite.

From Los Angeles Times • May 16, 2021

At the highest levels, many athletes receive an opportunity to abandon poverty, to go from rags to riches.

From Washington Post • Nov. 2, 2020

"It's like in the book about Ben Blunt that was adopted by a kind old gentleman and went up from rags to riches."

From The Wrong Twin by Wilson, Harry Leon