Ad Astra Per Aspera is a well known Latin phrase.The only controversey is the definition of the word "aspera." It is the root of the English word "asperation."So, the phrase might be interpreted like this: It is our aspiration to go to the stars. But, aspera as it was used, I am told, is also often interpreted as being a word that indicates difficulty or hardship which is the way It is iterperted when the phrase is used as a motto, or aphorism. So my favorite interpretation would be: "Through hardship, to the stars."There has been some discussion of late about the way certain young people feel about success. In some cases it is said that they (Mostly Millenials) expect to "have it all" once they graduate college, and that as one can easily see, leaves out the "aspera" part of the motto.Most of us know that life is not a day at the beach. We realize that in order to achieve, we must put forth effort, and in so doing it may well cause hardship and yes, sacrifice. The question then becomes, is success worth the effort required in order to achieve it. The first question an Objectivist might ask is, what would Rand say? Not being a philosopher, I will not answer except to say My use of the phrase is interpreting "aspera" as "hardship." Because I have never achieved much without lots of hard work. I would be interested to hear from Gulchers as to their thoughts on this subject..