Meanings of poor materials in English

The finest sculptor cannot fashion a masterpiece from poor materials.

He has done well with the poor materials he was confronted with when he arrived.

We cannot but regret that he should have been obliged to waste himself on such poor materials.

Egyptians are poor materials for an army.

On each scene of the panorama I lingered, and each was retained as well as the poor materials would allow.

But never when I was at the same time in such a desperate need and hurry; and in possession of such poor materials.

Pu was referring to the messy remnants left over when making tofu, or beancurd, a common Chinese term for shoddy workmanship and poor materials.

Within bounds, this is a reasonable and laudable desire, but it also covers many sins-poormaterials, bad workmanship, faulty manufacturing and often fraud.