pull oneself up by bootstraps

pull oneself up by one's (own) bootstraps

Fig. to improve or become a success by one's own efforts. If Sam had a little encouragement, he could pull himself up by his bootstraps. Given a chance, I'm sure I can pull myself up by my own bootstraps.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Gwendolen	GWEN-də-lin (English)	Welsh
Mitrofan	mee-trah-FAHN	Russian
Harold	HER-əld, HAR-əld	English
Margareta	mahr-gah-RE-tah (German), MAHR-gah-re-tah (Finnish)	German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Romanian, Slovene, Dutch, Finnish, Croatian
Josiane	-	French
Khasan	-	Chechen, Ossetian, Circassian, Ingush, Tatar, Bashkir