22 October 2018
One of the oldest creations of mankind, the humble stair has been an integral part of every human’s life. The ability to quickly and easily get to higher ground is something that is taken for granted in a day-to-day life, but when we take a moment to step back and appreciate it, we realise how important stairs are to us.
It’s no surprise, then, that staircases have been used as artistic inspiration through the ages and across many different mediums. We recently featured a selection of famous stair scenes in movies that showed the potential of the staircase to act as a catalyst in portraying different emotions.
Stairs are not just important to our everyday lives, they can also leave a profound mark on our views of the world, as outlined by these seven famous idioms featuring stairs.
“Even though our problems had driven us up there, it was as if they had somehow, like Daleks, been unable to climb the stairs.”
This phrase, as you may guess from the Doctor Who reference included, was written by a British author by the name of Nick Hornby. Featuring in his novel A Long Way Down, this phrase uses a theme seen frequently in stair phrases: progress. Hornby talks about how our problems make us stronger until we find ourselves in a position where our past issues can no longer reach us.
“You can't break a bad habit by throwing it out the window. You've got to walk it slowly down the stairs.”
This is another favourite trait of life commonly associated with stairs: patience. Coined by American literary icon Mark Twain, this phrase talks about how we cannot change our habits overnight – we have to be patient with ourselves if we want to truly change.
“You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
A phrase said by legendary American figure Martin Luther King Jr., this is a particularly poignant saying that many people can relate to. Focusing on the uncertainty of life and breaking it down with the help of the simple staircase, this beautifully simple idiom reflects the importance of courage in human life.
“An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.”
A more modern saying, this quote by American comedian Mitch Hedberg plays on the many famous sayings involving stairs and the art of patience. Instead of seeing the need to take the slow route towards something as a hindrance, we should look for the opportunities that may present themselves on the way.
“Never look backwards or you'll fall down the stairs.”
A famous Victorian-era storyteller from Britain, Rudyard Kipling, coined this phrase about life with stairs at its heart. Focusing on stairs as a means of one-way progression, Kipling explains that it is crucial that we continue moving forward in life without the worry of what has happened before.
“Common-sense lives on the ground floor […] on the same level as the others, as the passers-by, who are never dreamers.”
While not explicitly mentioning stairs, this phrase written by French philosopher Gaston Bachelard in his famous book The Poetics of Space is another saying about the recurring theme of progress. However, instead of being driven upwards by our problems, as Nick Hornby had said earlier, this focuses on our own ambitions to reach for something higher.
Finally, we will let this last phrase speak for itself. This comes courtesy of Irish poet W.B Yeats:
“Life is a journey up a spiral staircase; as we grow older we cover the ground we have covered before, only higher up; as we look down the winding stair below us we measure our progress by the number of places where we were but no longer are. The journey is both repetitious and progressive; we go both round and upward.”
If these staircase idioms have inspired you, it might be time to consider the importance of stairs in your life. If you’re interested in reinventing your staircase, talk to WoodenStairs, leading curved staircase manufacturers, to explore the exciting possibilities available to you.
