onward and upward

1. Becoming increasingly successful; continuing to advance or make progress. After the immense success of his first book, it was all onward and upward for John's writing career.

2. Improving to a brighter, happier future, especially after some misfortune or unpleasant incident. I know you're really disappointed with your result on the midterm, but hey, it's onward and upward from here!

onward and upward

Striving to advance and improve. This mid-nineteenth-century rallying cry was invoked by, among others, Frances Anne Kemble (1809–93) in her Lines addressed to the Young Gentlemen leaving the Lenox Academy, Massachusetts: “Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin, but onward, upward, till the goal ye win.” Today it is sometimes used ironically, as in the New Yorker magazine’s title for comments on unwittingly amusing news: “Onward and Upward with the Arts.”