camel through the eye of a needle

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

Phrase

 * 1)   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.
 * 1) * 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.
 * 1) * 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?

Translations

 * Arabic: حَتَّى يَلِجَ الْجَمَلُ فِي سَمِّ الْخِيَاطِ
 * Finnish: kuin kamelin käydä neulansilmän lävitse
 * French:
 * German: eher geht ein Kamel durch ein Nadelöhr
 * Polish: łatwiej jest wielbłądowi przejść przez ucho igielne
 * Turkish: deveyi hendekten atlatma daha kolaydır