ProverbWisdom
English origin1579
English origin1579You can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear
Meaning: Inferior materials cannot be transformed into superior products through effort alone.
Origin: The earliest record is in Stephen Gosson's Ephemerides of Phialo (1579), and later writers called it an old saying. In 1921 the chemist Arthur D. Little set out to disprove it: he had glue made from sows' ears spun into fibers and woven into silk purses. One is now at the Smithsonian, the other at MIT.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, Polish, and Chinese
French: Le singe est toujours singe, fût-il vêtu de pourpre (literally: A monkey is always a monkey, even dressed in purple)
Spanish: Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda (literally: Even if the monkey dresses in silk, she remains a monkey)
Japanese: 瓦は磨いても玉にならず (Kawara wa migaite mo tama ni narazu) (literally: A roof tile, however much you polish it, will not become a jewel)
Dutch: Al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding (literally: Even if an ape wears a gold ring, it's still an ugly thing)
Polish: I w Paryżu nie zrobią z owsa ryżu (literally: Even in Paris they can't make rice out of oats)
Chinese: 朽木不可雕 (Xiǔ mù bù kě diāo) (literally: Rotten wood can't be carved)
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