Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 1084 |
| AUTHOR: | Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836–1926) |
| QUOTATION: | You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and you can’t change human nature from intelligent self-interest into pure idealism—not in this life; and if you could, what would be left for paradise? |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Representative “Uncle Joe” Cannon, who was Speaker of the House 1903–1911, served in the House for 46 years. |
| SUBJECTS: | Life |