salt of the earth, the

Idioms  

1. The best or noblest of their kind, as in These campers are the salt of the earth. This metaphoric term was used by Jesus for those who were persecuted for being loyal to him (Matthew 5:13) and has been repeated ever since.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

salt of the earth, the

Jones thinks borrowers are the salt of the earth, the optimists, the builders, the men who take chances and thus make the U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

They recoiled with the utmost abhorrence from the pollutions of the age, and became indeed "the salt of the earth," the sole moral antiseptic to prevent the total disintegration of society.

From Valeria The Martyr of the Catacombs by Withrow, William Henry

His disciples are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and a city set on a hill.

From Companion to the Bible by Barrows, E. P. (Elijah Porter)

They are the salt of the earth, the oxygen in the moral atmosphere.

From The Bishop's Secret by Hume, Fergus

Princes, bishops, generals, once the salt of the earth, the mightiest of men, and now lumped carelessly together as thirty-eight Stuarts. 

From A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir