萬丈高樓平地起

1. • towering buildings are built up from the ground (idiom)
2. • great oaks from little acorns grow

Character by character

• 萬(wàn)surname Wan
• 丈(zhàng)measure of length, ten Chinese feet
• 高(gāo)surname Gao
• 樓(lóu)surname Lou
• 平(píng)surname Ping
• 地(dì)earth
• 起(qǐ)rise