Aim at a star

'Aim at a star and you'll hit a tree.' That was advice given to me as a boy, jokimgly, by a countryman friend of my late father when I told him that I was interested in astronomy. That memory has stayed with me ever since and, as with many country sayings, you can take it two different ways. And that makes it a kind of test.

You could take it to mean that ambition always ends in failure, or you could take it to mean that you should try to do as well as you can, because then you'll at least get somewhere.

I prefer the second interpretation. Aim high; try to be the best you possibly can be; work hard; practice. Don't be content with being just about good enough. Aim at a star and you'll hit a tree.