You can't have your cake and eat it

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You can't keep your cake and eat it (too) is a popular English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech. The phrase literally means "you cannot simultaneously consume and retain possession of a cake", but the proverb is implying a simpler concept: Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. This reference is used in situations where one desires two incompatible things, or where one should not try to have more than is reasonable. The proverb's meaning is similar to the phrases "you can't have it both ways" and "you can't have the best of both worlds." To the unfamiliar, the proverb may sound confusing due to the ambiguity of the word 'have', which can mean 'keep' or 'to have in one's possession', but which can also be used as a synonym for 'eat' (e.g. 'to have breakfast'). Some find the common form of the proverb to be incorrect or illogical and instead prefer: "You can't eat your cake and [then still] have it (too)". Indeed, this used to be the most common form of the expression until the 1930s–1940s...

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