The exact words
The passage
“Hitch your wagon to a star” sounds like a motto from a school yearbook, and it often ends up on one. It comes from an essay called “Civilization,” which Ralph Waldo Emerson developed from lectures he gave in the 1860s and published in 1870 in his collection Society and Solitude. In context it is more interesting, and more practical, than “dream big.”
Emerson is writing about what makes a civilization advanced. His answer is the ability to make nature do the work. He admires the mill that uses the tide to grind corn, which “engages the assistance of the moon, like a hired hand.” Then he draws the lesson: “Now that is the wisdom of a man, in every instance of his labor, to hitch his wagon to a star, and see his chore done by the gods themselves. That is the way we are strong, by borrowing the might of the elements.”
What it means
The image is of an ordinary farm wagon pulled by a star instead of a horse. Steam, gravity, wind and light, Emerson says, “serve us day by day, and cost us nothing.” The trick is to aim our work in the direction those great powers already travel, because, as he puts it, the heavenly powers “never go out of their road.”
He then turns the idea from machines to morals. “As our handiworks borrow the elements, so all our social and political action leans on principles.” A person alone is weak, but someone whose will “leans on a principle” borrows its strength. He repeats the phrase, “Hitch your wagon to a star,” and warns against petty, dishonest work that serves only “our pot and bag.”
How to use it
The popular meaning, aim high, is fine for a card or a quick motto. A speaker who knows the essay can give it more weight: find something larger than yourself that is already moving, a cause, a principle, a community, and tie your effort to it. That version works especially well at graduations.
What people get wrong
A simple encouragement to dream big and aim high.
In the essay it is practical. Emerson's examples are windmills, tide mills and astronomy, using powers far bigger than ourselves to do our work, and then aiming our lives at great principles.
Timeline
- 1860sEmerson lectures on civilization; the material is later revised into an essay.
- 1870The essay “Civilization” is published in Emerson's collection Society and Solitude, with the line appearing twice.
- TodayThe phrase is a standard motto for ambition, printed on yearbooks and school walls.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Who said “Hitch your wagon to a star”?
Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay “Civilization,” published in Society and Solitude in 1870.
What does it mean?
Use powers greater than your own to do your work. Emerson's examples are mills that use wind and tides; then he applies it to life, urging people to tie their efforts to great principles.
Is it just about ambition?
That is the popular meaning, and it is not wrong, but Emerson's point is about leverage and direction more than wishing.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.