Rags to riches

Rags to riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from obscurity to fame—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture (for example, the writings of Horatio Alger, Jr.).

Criticism

The concept of "Rags to riches" has been criticised by social reformers, revolutionaries, essayists and statisticians, who argue that only a handful of exceptionally capable and/or mainly lucky persons are actually able to travel the "rags to riches" road, being the great publicity given to such cases a natural Survivorship bias illusion, which help keep the masses of the working class and the working poor in line, preventing them from agitating for an overall collective change in the direction of social equality.

Pre-20th-century fictional examples

  • Fairy tales, such as Cinderella and Aladdin.
  • The Dickensian novel Oliver Twist, whose protagonist rises from a workhouse to child labour to a gang of pickpockets to being adopted by a wealthy family.
  • Rags to riches (disambiguation)

    Rags to riches refers to a rise from poverty to wealth.

    Rags to Riches may also refer to:

  • Rags to Riches (computer game), a 1985 computer game for the Commodore 64
  • Rags to Riches (horse), a thoroughbred race horse
  • "Rags to Riches" (song), a 1953 popular song by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, popularized by Tony Bennett
  • Rags to Riches (TV series), an American musical comedy drama series
  • Rags to Riches (1922 film), a film directed by Wallace Worsley
  • Rags to Riches (1941 film), a film directed by Joseph Kane
  • Rags to Riches (1941 film)

    Rags to Riches is a 1941 American crime film directed by Joseph Kane and written by James R. Webb. The film stars Alan Baxter, Mary Carlisle, Jerome Cowan, Adrian Morris, Ralf Harolde and Paul Porcasi. The film was released on July 31, 1941, by Republic Pictures.

    Cast

  • Alan Baxter as Jimmy Rogers
  • Mary Carlisle as Carol Patrick
  • Jerome Cowan as Marshall Abbott
  • Adrian Morris as Bickford
  • Ralf Harolde as Slip Conlan
  • Paul Porcasi as Professor Del Rio
  • Suzanne Kaaren as Glenda Hayes
  • Eddie Acuff as Ace
  • Rosina Galli as Maria
  • Charles Trowbridge as Prosecutor
  • Daisy Lee Mothershed as Julia
  • Joan Blair as Belle Cassidy
  • Francis Sayles as Bert Cassidy
  • References

    External links

  • Rags to Riches at the Internet Movie Database

  • Podcasts:

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    Latest News for: rags-to-riches

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    Mayo go from rags to riches to book Division One final meeting with Kerry

    The Irish Times 23 Mar 2025
    Goalkeeper Colm Reape saved down to his right and was relieved moments later when Hugh McFadden cracked a ferocious shot off his crossbar ... Mayo go from rags to riches to book Division One final meeting with Kerry.
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    Belmont Stakes-winning filly Rags to Riches on Hall of Fame ballot again

    The Daily Gazette 22 Mar 2025
    SARATOGA SPRINGS — Among the 16 horses and humans who were named finalists for the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame class of 2025 last month were four whose respective resumes include a victory in the Belmont Stakes ... .
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    Sam Darnold is the NFL's latest rags-to-riches QB. Can he sustain it? Who could be next?

    The Athletic 18 Mar 2025
    Reclamation quarterbacks are popular right now, as free agency showed, but it's very rare for QBs to revive their careers and make it last ....
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    The N.F.L. Has a New Rags-to-Riches Phenomenon at Quarterback

    New York Times 18 Mar 2025
    Sam Darnold and Geno Smith overcame early career struggles to become the face of a franchise ... .
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    He calls himself LA’s rags-to-riches pot billionaire. Investors allege in court their money disappeared

    The Los Angeles Times 17 Mar 2025
    To investors, Vincent Mehdizadeh pitched himself as a rags-to-riches Los Angeles success story — a man whose family fled religious fundamentalism in Iran and who later grew up to transform the legal cannabis industry through technology.
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    RAGs To Riches: How Retrieval-Augmented Generation Is Changing Advertising

    Forbes 12 Mar 2025
    Retrieval-augmented generation represents a paradigm shift in AI-powered advertising, bridging the gap between creative generation and real-time contextual relevance ... .
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    The Sims 4's 'Rags to Riches Challenge'

    Gamespot 11 Mar 2025
    ... to trusting H&R Block’s experts to maximize tax returns.
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    Eliza 'Betsy' Jumel a Rhode Island rags to riches story | Opinion

    The Newport Daily News 08 Mar 2025
    To survive she worked in a mixed-race brothel in which her two young daughters, Betsy and Mary, were raised ... The marriage was not smooth sailing and was punctuated by Stephen’s frequent business trips to France and elsewhere.
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    Rags-to-riches poverty activist is exposed as a fraudster who conned Hollywood | Daily Mail Online

    The Daily Mail 07 Mar 2025
    His co-conspirator, Ibrahim Ameen AlHusseini, 51, of Venice - who was arrested at an airport in October - pleaded guilty on Monday for wire fraud for falsifying documents and information to assist Sanberg.
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