Im Deutschen oft stark verkürzt etwa zu: "Ideale sind wie Sterne, man kann sie nicht erreichen, aber man kann sich an ihnen orientieren." vgl. falschzitate.blogspot.com https://falschzitate.blogspot.com/2019/03/ideale-sind-wie-sterne-man-kann-sie.html
Variante: Original engl.: " [...] ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hand. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny." - True Americanism, Faneuil-Hall in Boston, 18.04.1859. In: Speeches of Carl Schurz, J. B. Lippincott & Co. Philadelphia 1865, S. 54,
Quelle: Addresses In Memory Of Carl Schurz, Address of Professor Eugene Kühnemann, New York Committee of the Carl Schurz Memorial, New York 1906, S. 24