ProverbWisdomEnglish originc. 1435

You cannot get blood out of a stone.

Meaning: Demanding resources from those who lack them is futile; necessity cannot extract what does not exist.

Origin: The image is old: John Lydgate wrote around 1435 that it is hard to lick honey out of a marble stone. Giovanni Torriano's collection of 1662 has the turnip version still common in America, and Charles Dickens used the stone version in David Copperfield. It is said of trying to extract money, help or feeling from someone who simply has none to give.

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