Does anybody know which book this comes from?

I've certainly started a search haven't I?!
I like your suggestion about Abide With Me , ExDancer.
Thank you all.

It's not from the James Herbert rats trilogy books for sure, I've read them all recently (for the hundreth time). AI says it's probably made up, it's not in any books or films.

From a wannabee tenth rate actor?

Alfred Bester wrote The Stars My Destination.

I just googled it.

From a book by James arthur

Sounds like a line from Jack London's Call of The Wild possibly?
All I know for certain is that I now have " point my nose to the Northern Star" from How the West was Won and Where it got us by REM.

There's a line in the hymn Abide With Me "and point me to the stars" - could it be a reference to that perhaps?

Is it from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? What dates are on the gravestone - if we knew that it would help in the search for its origin.

ChatGPT says: “Point me towards the nearest star” is not a well-known, standard quotation from literature, scripture, or a famous poem.
When it appears on a gravestone, it is almost always a personal or commissioned epitaph, not a quote being cited from a canonical source.

There is a book called King Rat.

That's an interesting thought 25Avalon. It's something that has been in my mind for so long I now can't remember where it came from. I had the idea it was on a gravestone of a character in a book. I would like it on mine, except I want my ashes to be scattered on a sandy beach, when the time comes!

I don’t think it is from a book. I think it’s just a metaphorical statement.

Thanks for your answers. Yes I have tried Google. Not the book you mentioned nanna8, or Carl Sagan, or Peter Pan. It's really annoying me now. (On the scale of things a very small annoyance I know! )

Sounds like a Carl Sagan quote?

Was it anything to do with Peter Pan? Something about turn at the first star?
Hope you find it.

Have you tried googling?

I have all James Herbert books and have looked through my copies of The Rats, Lair and Domain. I didn't find those words in any of them unless I missed them. I'll have another look if I get time.

The Stars my Destination? By Alfred or Arthur someone. Science fiction.