can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
IdiomsExample Sentences
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Koeman will say you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and that he is doing the very best he possibly can with what is available to him.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2021
My mother told me you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
From Reuters ● May 21, 2011
"The plan makes a wonderful scapegoat if the school can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," says Principal Miriam Burton.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Even an actor who has portrayed Moses can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
From Time Magazine Archive
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You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, and Gethin Owens will be Gethin Owens always.
From Garthowen A Story of a Welsh Homestead by Allen Raine
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.