cast pearls before swine

Idioms  

1. Give something of value of someone who won't appreciate it, as in The old professor felt that lecturing on Dante to unruly undergraduates would be casting pearls before swine. This term comes from the New Testament (Matthew 7:6), appearing in Tyndale's translation (1526). It was repeated often by writers from Shakespeare to Dickens and remains current.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cast pearls before swine

"I answer," he said with set face and flashing eyes, "that I will not cast pearls before swine."

From Pearl-Maiden by Henry Rider Haggard

No, my dear Gneisenau, one must not cast pearls before swine.

From Napoleon and Blucher by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

We may find, that we have cast pearls before swine.

From The Growth of Thought As Affecting the Progress of Society by William Withington

On her face was the look of one who has cast pearls before swine.

From Okewood of the Secret Service by Valentine Williams

I am always a little angry that my friends don't do something better on such occasions; but why cast pearls before swine?

From Early Letters of George Wm. Curtis by George Willis Cooke