"My mom is always telling me it takes a long time to get to the top, but a short time to get to the bottom"
About this Quote
The intent is cautionary, but the subtext is about surveillance. “The top” isn’t just fame; it’s legitimacy - the hard-won shift from being seen as a product to being treated as an artist. Cyrus knows that climb is slow because it requires multiple institutions to sign off: fans, gatekeepers, brands, critics. “The bottom,” meanwhile, is a cultural trapdoor. One messy performance, one misjudged era, one headline that catches, and the public story rewrites you overnight. Pop stardom isn’t a meritocracy; it’s a narrative economy, and narratives can be flipped in a day.
What makes the quote work is its plainness. It avoids celebrity self-pity by borrowing parental wisdom, which makes the warning feel earned rather than performative. It also smuggles in accountability: you can’t control the speed of the fall, but you can respect how fragile the platform is. Coming from Cyrus - someone who’s been both coronated and castigated - it reads less like advice and more like field notes from the spotlight.
Quote Details
| Topic | Success |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Cyrus, Miley. (n.d.). My mom is always telling me it takes a long time to get to the top, but a short time to get to the bottom. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mom-is-always-telling-me-it-takes-a-long-time-155820/
Chicago Style
Cyrus, Miley. "My mom is always telling me it takes a long time to get to the top, but a short time to get to the bottom." FixQuotes. Accessed February 3, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mom-is-always-telling-me-it-takes-a-long-time-155820/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My mom is always telling me it takes a long time to get to the top, but a short time to get to the bottom." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-mom-is-always-telling-me-it-takes-a-long-time-155820/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.





