Rags to riches (also rags-to-riches) refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture, such as the writings of Horatio Alger, Jr.

Pre-20th-century fictional examples

Historical examples

Pre-modern and modern times

Thousands of people have risen from poverty to riches; some are:

Use in art and media

TV and films

Music

Print

Sport

Video gaming

Criticism

The concept of "rags to riches" has been criticized by social reformers, anti-capitalists, revolutionaries, essayists, and statisticians, who argue that only a handful of exceptionally capable and/or mainly lucky persons can travel the "rags to riches" road, being the great publicity given to such cases causes a natural survivorship bias illusion, which obscures cases contrary to the rags-to-riches narrative (sometimes called riches-to-rags ). Peña and Weiss argue these misapprehensions help keep the masses of the working class and the working poor in line, and prevent them from agitating for an overall collective change in the direction of social equality.