make bricks without straw

Idioms  

1. Perform a task without essential materials or means, as in Writing a report without the current data is making bricks without straw. This expression alludes to straw as a material necessary in early brick manufacturing. [Early 1600s]

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Example Sentences

In the latter, you are often expected to make bricks without straw, but in the former, to grow lemons without a tree.

From Time Magazine Archive

After all, to build his air force Marshal Milch had to make bricks without straw.

From Time Magazine Archive

Like the rest of us, newspaper men cannot be expected to make bricks without straw.

From Time Magazine Archive

But it is hard even for a skillful workman "to make bricks without straw," to awaken mental effort where interest in the subject is entirely lacking.

From The Elements of General Method Based on the Principles of Herbart by McMurry, Charles Alexander

You can’t make bricks without straw, or grow little girls up without nourishing food in their tummies.”

From Turn About Eleanor by Cootes, F. Graham