All experience is an arch, to build upon.

The metaphor of an “arch” suggests engineering: experience is not an ornament but a load-bearing form that makes future building possible. Adams implies that what one lives through—successes, failures, disillusionments—can be shaped into a stable support for judgment and growth. The phrase also hints at continuity: an arch spans a gap, linking past to future, and it is made of many stones; likewise, experience accumulates into a coherent structure only when integrated and used. The line carries a pragmatic optimism: even painful or confusing events can become constructive material if treated as foundation rather than as dead weight.