you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear
Meanings
proverb
- It is not possible to produce something refined, admirable, or valuable from something which is unrefined, unpleasant, or of little or no value.
Word forms
Etymology
From make a silk purse of a sow's ear, with the common perception of swine as unrefined, dirty, or base creatures.
Synonyms
Related words
Previous
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.