The young man is certain to get on in the world; he has hitched his wagon to a star.

It is better to hitch one's wagon to a star than to wander aimlessly through life.

My comments:

The wagon is the vehicle that takes you from place to place. The star is high above the night sky. To hitch your wagon to the star, hence, suggests that you’re aiming high.

There’s not such a long piece of rope to find of course, so you know that this phrase is to be read metaphorically.

Also, again using the imaginary long rope, if you hitch your wagon to a star, it gives you a constant sense of direction in the dark. As it is well put in the second example above, it’s better than to “wander aimlessly through life.”

Actually I’m not so sure about that. So many people aim at the wrong things in life that I am not so sure any more.

Guess you’ll have to hitch your wagon to the right star – if there were one.

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本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（张欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.