A poet is a man who puts up a ladder to a star and climbs it while playing a violin.
Edmond de Goncourt

As we ascend the social ladder, viciousness wears a thicker mask.
Erich Fromm

Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.
Clare Boothe Luce

Each test pilot I know considers him, or herself, now that there are women, to be the very best. It's very demeaning to step down the ladder once in a while.
Wally Schirra

Education is not only a ladder of opportunity, but it is also an investment in our future.
Ed Markey

Every author really wants to have letters printed in the papers. Unable to make the grade, he drops down a rung of the ladder and writes novels.
P. G. Wodehouse

For the most ambitious young people, the corporate ladder is obsolete.
Paul Graham

Hollywood is a place where a man can get stabbed in the back while climbing a ladder.
William Faulkner

I did Star 80, which was a magnificent experience as well, but still, I was at the height of my career at the beginning. Then I had to jump down the ladder and climb back up again, which I didn't understand. That was very hard.
Mariel Hemingway

I have a stepladder. It's a very nice stepladder but it's sad that I never knew my real ladder.
Craig Charles

I have a wife and a son, but the gay rumors have started. I guess it's a sign that I'm moving up the ladder.
Hugh Jackman

I think my playing has been orchestral throughout the years, and this is another way of expressing that. But I primarily see it as the ultimate accomplishment of a musician. Composing makes me feel like I've finally gotten all the way up the ladder as a musician.
Tony Williams

I've never been one to look up the ladder. I've always looked down the ladder. As long as there's one guy down there, I'm fine.
Ron White

If I have to climb to heaven on a ladder, I shall decline the invitation.
Mercedes McCambridge

If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?
Henry David Thoreau

If the composer withholds more than we anticipate, we experience a delicious falling sensation; we feel we have been torn from a stable point on the musical ladder and thrust into the void.
Levi Strauss

If US per capita income continues to grow at a rate of 1.5 percent a year, the country will have plenty of money to finance comfortable retirements and high-quality healthcare for all citizens, including those at the bottom of the wage ladder.
William Greider

If you're climbing the ladder of life, you go rung by rung, one step at a time. Don't look too far up, set your goals high but take one step at a time. Sometimes you don't think you're progressing until you step back and see how high you've really gone.
Donny Osmond

In this business, you're either Brad Pitt right away, or you're already going down the ladder.
Skeet Ulrich

In this industry, there are only two ways up the ladder. Rung by rung or claw your way to the top. It's sure been tough on my nails.
Jack Nicholson