kick down the ladder

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The Fathers made me a Catholic, and I am not going to kick down the ladder by which I ascended into the Church.

From Occasional Papers Selected from the Guardian, the Times, and the Saturday Review, 1846-1890 by Church, R. W. (Richard William)

And that was all right, said the other, but why kick down the ladder by which you had climbed—and especially when you had perhaps not entirely finished climbing?

From Jimmie Higgins by Sinclair, Upton

Let us not kick down the ladder by which we mounted, nor refuse to acknowledge what our fathers felt in their hour of trial.

From The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)

Serfdom, like cannibalism and polygamy, are the steps by which human society rose to its present status: to abuse them is ignorantly to kick down the ladder.

From To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II A Personal Narrative by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

Friends, let us as American citizens never kick down the ladder by which we climbed up.

From Fundamentals of Prosperity What They Are and Whence They Come by Babson, Roger W.