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Phrase(s): pie in the sky
1. Fig. a future reward after death, considered as a replacement for a reward not received on earth. • Don’t hold out for pie in the sky. Get realistic. • If he didn’t hope for some heavenly pie in the sky, he would probably be a real crook. 2. Fig. having to do with a hope for a special reward. (This is hyphenated before a nominal.) • Get rid of your pie-in-the-sky ideas! • What these pie-in-the-sky people really want is money.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
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An empty wish or promise, as in His dream of being hired as a sports editor proved to be pie in the sky. This expression was first recorded in 1911 in a rallying song of a union, the International Workers of the World (or "Wobblies"): "Work and pray, live on hay, you'll get pie in the sky when you die."
American Heritage Idioms