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]

---

Example Sentences

NM: Actually, what the white leaders always said is that black residents weren’t paying enough taxes to have better schools in this situation of segregation, which was, of course, a total source of frustration to the black parents, because they said, “How can we make bricks without straw? If you don’t give us education, how can we get better jobs in order to pay more taxes?”

From Salon

You can’t make bricks without straw.”

From Los Angeles Times

“They’re doing their best, but they’re trying to make bricks without straw.”

From New York Times

And you cannot make bricks without straw.

From Project Gutenberg

My mother told me that this was something like asking a person to make bricks without straw.

From Project Gutenberg