“Man's books are but a climbing stair,
Lain step by step, like stairs of stone;
The stairway here, the temple there —
Man's lampad honor, and his trust,
The God who called him from the dust.”

“Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.”

Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic

“The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs… one step at a time.”

Joe Girard (1928–2019) American salesman

“Is it advisable to spread out all the conveniences of culture before people to whom a few steps up a stair to a library is a sufficient deterrent from reading?”

Ayn Rand book The Fountainhead

“The stairs ended. I wished I knew the jackass who’d made the staircase so short. I’d throw him down the damn steps so he could count them with his head.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

“If you want to buy my wares
Follow me and climb the stairs …
Love for sale.”

Cole Porter (1891–1964) American composer and songwriter

“A man falls in love just as he falls down stairs. It is an accident. ”

Robert Southey (1774–1843) British poet

“Good-bye Dr. Steve,' I said, then climbed the stairs and went to the fifth floor to die.”

Ally Carter Out of Sight, Out of Time

“If you want to make an audience laugh, you dress a man up like an old lady and push her down the stairs. If you want to make comedy writers laugh, you push an actual old lady down the stairs.”

Tina Fey (1970) American comedian, writer, producer and actress

“Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author