you
can not have
your cake and eat it
You can not have your cake and eat it
You can't enjoy both of two desirable but mutually exclusive alternatives – proverb
Related Idioms :
cakes and ale
merrymaking
1601 - William Shakespeare - Twelfth Night – Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?
the icing on the cake
an attractive but inessential addition or enhancement
A North American variant of this phrase is the frosting on the cake.
1996 - Independent - State education is no longer always free. The jumble sale and the summer fair, which used to provide the icing on the school cake, are now providing the staple fare.
a piece of cake
something easily achieved – Informal
sell like hot cakes = go like hot cakes
be sold quickly and in large quantities.
a slice of the cake
a share of the benefits or profits – informal
1991 - Robert Reiner - Chief Constables - Perhaps it's because they're such good spenders that our slice of the cake is sufficient for all we want.
take the cake
be the most remarkable – informal
1925 - P. G. Wodehouse - Letter - Of all the poisonous, foul, ghastly places, Cannes takes the biscuit with absurd ease.
In most of these idioms cake is used as a metaphor for something pleasant or desirable.
you can not have your cake and eat it :
Idioms Index – Previous Page
Related Links : you can not have your cake and eat it