Is there an actual translation for this concept in English?

Hi, everyone! Italian speaker here. While writing in an informal context, I was going to use a word traslating it literally from my native language: something that I shouldn't have done, I know, but sometimes it still happens. Specifically, after so many years practicing English, I realized I never saw the direct equivalent of a very common Italian word, that's to say "ideali" (plural form of "ideale", both noun and adjective). While in the singular form the meanings are pretty equivalent to the English ones, in the plural form the meaning slightly shifts, and indicates - more or less - a set of moral standards and aspirations that an individual, a group or even a generation might have (i.e. "gli ideali dei giovani"...youth's ideals?). While I know that it's possible to use "ideals" in Law English (i.e. *the ideals in legal theory*) or in Mathematics and Physics, I am not aware of the usage I'm referring to. Would the word "ideals" be used in this regard too? Would you use a different word at all (i.e. aspirations)? Or is it something you wouldn't say at all? TIA!