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 Haggard, Henry Rider

Herewith I pause, for why should I cast pearls before swine?

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 24 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

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

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

If we cast pearls before swine, my boy, we must not be surprised to find them taken for the seeds of cabbage-heads.

From The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers. Series 3 by Newell, Robert H.

Every one knows the expression to cast pearls before swine, and its meaning, "to give good things to people who are too ignorant to appreciate them."

From Stories That Words Tell Us by O'Neill, Elizabeth (Elizabeth Speakman)