camel through the eye of a needle

English

Etymology

With reference to the New Testament, Mark 10.25, Mat. 19.24 and Luke 18.25. See the Citations page for those texts.

Pronunciation

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Phrase

camel through the eye of a needle

1. (idiomatic) Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen.

   Getting George to wake up before 7 o'clock is harder than getting a camel through the eye of a needle.

   • 1795, John Swanwick (as "Snub"), "To WILLIAM WILCOCKS, Esquire, L. L. D. and DUke of New-York, &c.", in A Rub from Snub; or a cursory analytical epistle, page 57, quoting Wilcocks in the first footnote.

     Alluding to the exordium of his writings againſt the democrats, wherein he ſays “ It is a difficult for a party-man to be an honeſt man, as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,” whereby he moſt emphatically declares his own diſhoneſty at the very firſt daſh of his pen.

   • 1825, "Sir H. L.", in The Political Correspondence of the Leading Members of Parliament with the the^[sic] Speaker of the House of Commons on Emancipation, James Bigg (publ.), page 83.

     You are endeavouring to pass a bill that never can and that never will pass the House of Lords. Do you want to make a camel go through the eye of a needle?

Related terms

• it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

Translations

impossible

• Arabic: حَتَّى يَلِجَ الْجَمَلُ فِي سَمِّ الْخِيَاطِ (ḥattā yalija l-jamalu fī sammi l-ḵiyāṭi)
• Finnish: kuin kamelin käydä neulansilmän lävitse (chiefly biblical)
• French: faire passer un chameau par le chas d’une aiguille (fr)
• German: eher geht ein Kamel durch ein Nadelöhr
• Polish: łatwiej jest wielbłądowi przejść przez ucho igielne
• Turkish: deveyi hendekten atlatma daha kolaydır