Meaning & Analysis
To throw or aim for a target that is farther away than the moon, an action that is physically impossible and absurd.
Insights
Unrealistic Ambition
The proverb describes someone whose ambitions are so grandiose and unrealistic that they are completely detached from reality. It signifies a profound overestimation of one's capabilities or the pursuit of unattainable goals.
Wild Conjecture
As the provided explanation notes, the primary metaphorical meaning is to engage in wild, unfounded speculation. It refers to making conjectures that are not based on evidence or reason, but on pure fantasy.
Fantastical Thinking
It can characterize a person who is lost in fantastical thinking or delusion, unable to distinguish between practical reality and impossible dreams. Their plans and ideas exist in a realm beyond reason.
Intellectual Overreach
The phrase can also imply a form of intellectual or creative overreach, where an individual attempts to grasp concepts or create plans that are far too complex, abstract, or simply beyond human comprehension.
Astronomical Symbolism
Rooted in a pre-modern, pre-space-age cosmology, the moon symbolized the ultimate, unreachable boundary of the physical world. To 'cast beyond' it was to venture into pure fantasy, a concept that powerfully illustrates the limits of human ambition and understanding before the 20th century.
Psychological Projection
The proverb taps into the psychological tendency for extreme thinking, whether driven by ambition, delusion, or, as several quotations suggest, fear. The 1611 citation explicitly connects this idea to 'Lunacy', reflecting the historical belief that the moon could influence mental states, causing irrational or fantastical thoughts.
Literary Hyperbole
Shakespeare's use of a similar phrase, 'I aim a mile beyond the moon', demonstrates its literary function as a powerful hyperbole for expressing immense, almost absurdly grand, intentions that defy conventional limits.
Rhetorical Devices
Hyperbole
The core of the proverb is hyperbole, using the extreme exaggeration of casting something past the moon to vividly emphasize the absurdity and ungrounded nature of a person's thoughts or ambitions.
Symbolism
The moon serves as a powerful symbol for the utmost limit of human reach and imagination. To go 'beyond' it is to symbolically transgress the boundaries of reality, reason, and possibility.
Cosmic Imagery
The phrase creates a strong and memorable visual of a futile yet grand gesture—hurling an object into the cosmos. This powerful imagery effectively communicates the scale of the person's delusion or ambition.
Transcription
Quotations
Feare may force a man to cast beyonde the moone.
I talke of things impossible, And cast beyond the moone.
Beyond the moone when I began to cast . . what place might be procur'd.
Still Fucus casts beyond the moone: and why The moone still casts him into Lunacy.
Feare causeth a man to cast beyond the Moone.
Thou speakest of matters beyond the Moone. It is impossible.
He casts beyond the Moone, that hath pist on a nettle.
To talk of things done beyond the Moon.
Shakespeare Citations
Now, masters, draw. [They shoot.] . . —My lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon.
Cross References
- See T. 75, p. 91.
Explanation
[He indulges in wild conjectures.]
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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