You can't have your cake and eat it too
Meaning
You cannot enjoy the benefits of two desirable, yet mutually exclusive, options at the same time.
Origin
Picture a time when a freshly baked cake was a fleeting luxury. To consume it meant to destroy its form, leaving nothing but crumbs; you couldn't both savor its sweetness and admire it whole on the table. This undeniable truth, that you cannot simultaneously enjoy the pleasure of consumption and retain the object of that pleasure, was immortalized as a proverb in the 16th century. It emerged as a sharp reminder that in life, just as with a delicious cake, some desires are fundamentally incompatible, forcing a clear choice between use and possession.
Examples
- My boss expects me to take a pay cut and also work overtime, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.
- She wants to save money for a new car and also travel the world this year, forgetting that you can't have your cake and eat it too.