can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear

1. Be unable to turn something ugly or inferior into something attractive or of value, as in No matter how expensive his clothes, he still looks sloppy—you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. This expression was already a proverb in the mid-1500s.

Example Sentences

“It follows the old adage that you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear,” Adams said.

Read more on Washington Post

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.

Read more on BBC

As the saying goes, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Read more on US News

Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA According to the old adage, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. sought to prove that you could in his fourth .

Read more on The Guardian

But you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as the saying is, and you can't turn a negro or maroon into a true fighting man that will never say die.

Read more on Project Gutenberg