Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, or sometimes from obscurity to fame. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture (for example, the writings of Horatio Alger, Jr.).
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Famous quotes containing the words rags and/or riches:
“I fasted for some forty days on bread and buttermilk
For passing round the bottle with girls in rags or silk,
In country shawl or Paris cloak, had put my wits astray,
And what’s the good of women for all that they can say
Is fol de rol de rolly O.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”
—Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes, 9:11.