Render onto Caesar the things which are Caesar's
What does this sentence mean?
Learn English – Meaning of “Render onto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s”
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Swept under the rug (or carpet) is an idiom meaning to conceal something that is embarrassing that you don't want other people to know about.
Think about cleaning the floor. You have all the dirt, and are too lazy or out of time to find something to pick it up, so you lift the corner of the rug and sweep it there.
The full phrase is usually "Praise from Caesar is praise indeed".
The earliest I can find for the full phrase is 1903's The Smart Set: a Magazine of Cleverness, Volume 9:
The earliest I can find for the shorter phrase is 1876's Archaeologia Cantiana, Volume 10:
It is something to win praise from Caesar, and to have that praise echoed by Shakespeare, but if we may say amicus Caesar we must, as a scientific body, proclaim magis arnica Veritas, and confess that we have no trace of Caesar's ...
The next is closer to our phrase's meaning, from 1889's New Englander and Yale review: Volume 50:
This is the highest praise, and praise from Caesar, with no note of insularity.
It possibly originates from Horace's Satires 2.1.84 (30BC): iudice laudatus Caesare: "praised by such a judge as Caesar" but it may be coincidental.
Best Answer
The quote is "Render unto Caesar the things which are Ceasar's..." and comes from the Bible, Mark 12:17
Since this is a forum for discussion of language rather than exigesis, I will refrain from discussing the possible deeper contextual implications of the phrase, and instead clarify the semantic meaning.
Please be aware that the quote you have referenced comes from the King James Bible, a translation of biblical scripture that was carried out some centuries ago and therefore using language that can be mystifying to the modern reader. A more up-to-date translation in common use is the New International Version, which renders the quote thus:
This was in response to a question about whether Jews should pay taxes (or instead resist Roman authority.) Please refer to one of the many biblical study guides or websites for a scriptural analysis, or this Wikipedia article for a good primer (thanks J. M. and Scott Mitchell :-)
This particular biblical quote is used in different contexts to mean any one of a number of different things, but in my experience it is most commonly an exhortation to keep the affairs of religion and politics separate.