meaning

[alegna#45]

does anyone know what the saying "building castles in the sky" means, does it mean trying to attain too much, or similar? thanks in advance.

[Wolfeymole]

Read here Alegna.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Castle+in+the +Air

[spotit3]

I always assumed it meant something like pipe dreams.

[abbie.s]

isn't it 'castles in the air'?

[VS Prasad]

Idiom: Extravagant hopes and plans that will never be carried out.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=castl es+in+the+air&r=66

Castles in the air : a fanciful or impractical notion or hope; daydream. Also called air castle, cas'tle in Spain'.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0364388.html

By reading the characteristic features of any man's castles in the air you can make a shrewd guess as to his underlying desires which are frustrated - John Dewey

Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them. My mother cleans them - Rita Rudner

Although a new or useful object or method may be developed to fulfill a specific purpose, the original idea may never be fully realised as a working invention, perhaps because the concept is in some way unrealistic or impractical.

A "castle in the air" or a "pie in the sky" (or "castles in Spain") may refer to a creative idea which does not reach fruition due to practical considerations. The history of invention is full of such castles, because inventions are not necessarily invented in the order that is most useful; for example, the design of the parachute was worked out before the invention of powered flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castles_in_the_ai r