a far cry from

A great distance from (OFTEN FIGURATIVE)

EXAMPLE:

“After reading the resort’s colorful brochure we had expected a luxury hotel, but the shabby old hotel was a far cry from our expectations.”

burn the midnight oil

(verb phrase)

to work hard very late into the night--and as if working only by the light of an oil lamp

EXAMPLE:

"The manager had so much work piling up on her desk she knew she was going to have to burn the midnight oil to finish it."