Be nice to those you meet on the way up. They're the same folks you'll meet on the way down.

Walter Winchell (1897–1972) was a hugely influential American newspaper columnist and radio commentator whose career depended on access, reputation, and the shifting fortunes of public figures. Working in the high-pressure worlds of Broadway, Hollywood, and national politics, Winchell watched people rise quickly through publicity and connections—and fall just as quickly when scandals, changing tastes, or political winds turned. The remark is commonly attributed to him as a piece of hard-earned show-business and media wisdom: status is temporary, and the people you dismiss while climbing may be the same gatekeepers, colleagues, or rivals you must face when your influence wanes.

The quote is a pragmatic moral lesson about power and impermanence. “On the way up” suggests ambition, promotion, and increasing social leverage; “on the way down” acknowledges that decline is normal and often unavoidable. Winchell’s point is not only ethical (treat people well) but strategic: relationships and reputation outlast rank. Courtesy, fairness, and restraint are forms of long-term insurance in hierarchical environments, because today’s subordinate may be tomorrow’s decision-maker—or the person who remembers how you behaved when you felt untouchable. The line also critiques arrogance by reminding readers that success does not change the basic human landscape you move through.