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

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 Robert H. Newell

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

From Napoleon and Blucher by L. (Luise) Mühlbach

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

From Okewood of the Secret Service by Valentine Williams

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 Robert Louis Stevenson

"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

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