Hold a candle to

This expression is usually expressed in the negative as cannot hold a candle to someone or something. In The Middle Ages, servants or apprentices would hold candles for their superiors to read or work by. Therefore, if they could not hold a candle, they were considered unfit to perform even the most menial or subordinate tasks. Shakespeare uses the expression in Merchant of Venice Act II, Scene VI, “Must I hold a candle to my shames?” Sir Edward Denning in Virtues of a Carmelite Friar (1641) wrote, “I be not worthy to hold the candle to Aristotle.”