Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, they tell you.

How do you turn an electrical plug into a silk purse?

It is not possible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Can he make a silk purse from a sow's ear?

One cannot make a silk purse from a sows ear.

Not that he had to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

He concluded by saying one cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

"You must have spent every bit that was in the silk purse!"

Let us hope that afterwards we can turn the pig's ear into a silk purse.

God, she thought, he certainly knew how to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.