Success Quote by Mae West

Mae West lands this line like a wink that’s also an indictment. “Climbed the ladder of success” is the standard American fable: grit, talent, upward mobility. Then she tilts it with three words that turn aspiration into farce: “wrong by wrong.” It’s not just that the woman cheated; it’s that she built a whole career out of transgression, one misstep stacked neatly on another like rungs. West’s genius is making corruption sound almost efficient.

The intent is double-edged. On the surface, it’s a punchline about a social climber who slept, lied, bribed, or conned her way upward. Underneath, it’s a critique of a culture that pretends to reward virtue while constantly monetizing vice. If success is a ladder, West implies, the system may be less offended by “wrong” than it is impressed by results. The joke works because it flatters the audience’s moral superiority even as it invites them to enjoy the scandal.

Context matters: West made her name playing women who understood the marketplace of desire and the hypocrisy of polite society. In an era when female ambition was often coded as indecent, she turns the accusation into entertainment, exposing how quickly “immoral” becomes “resourceful” once money and status appear. The line isn’t just about one woman’s sins; it’s about how the culture quietly supplies the ladder, then gasps when someone climbs it.