you cannot do that

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• you cannot have your cake and eat it — You cannot consume or spend something and still keep possession of it: once the cake is eaten, it is gone. The positions of have and eat are often reversed. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II. ix. L2 I trowe ye raue, Wolde ye bothe eate your …   Proverbs new dictionary

• you cannot not but … — you cannot/could not but… idiom (formal) used to show that everything else is impossible except the thing that you are saying • What could he do but forgive her? (= that was the only thing possible) Main entry: ↑butidiom …   Useful english dictionary

• you cannot lose what you never had — The sentiment is expressed in a number of ways: quot. 1974 represents a local equivalent. Similar to what you’ve never had you never miss. a 1593 MARLOWE Hero & Leander I. 276 Of that which hath no being do not boast, Things that are not at all… …   Proverbs new dictionary

• you cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs — Cf. Fr. on ne fait pas d’omelette sans casser des œufs, one does not make an omelette without breaking eggs. 1859 T. P. THOMPSON Audi Alteram Partem II. xc. We are walking upon eggs and..the omelet will not be made without the breaking of some.… …   Proverbs new dictionary

• you cannot put an old head on young shoulders — 1591 H. SMITH Preparative to Marriage 14 It is not good grafting of an olde head vppon young shoulders, for they will neuer beare it willingly but grudgingly. 1794 E. DRINKER Journal 31 Dec. (1889) 256 ’Tis not the way I could wish my children to …   Proverbs new dictionary

• you cannot get blood from a stone — Frequently used, as a resigned admission, to mean that it is hopeless to try extorting money, etc., from those who have none. Other unyielding or unlikely substances are sometimes substituted for stone; the turnip version is frequent in North… …   Proverbs new dictionary

• you cannot catch old birds with chaff — The wise and experienced are not easily fooled. 1481 CAXTON Reynard the Fox (1880) xl. Wenest [do you think] thou thus to deceyue... I am no byrde to be locked ne take by chaf. I know wel ynowh good corn. c 1590 Timon (1842) IV. ii. ’Tis well. An …   Proverbs new dictionary

• you cannot serve God and Mammon — Quoting MATTHEW vi. 24 (AV) Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is the Aramaic word for ‘riches’, taken by medieval writers as the proper name of the devil of covetousness. Now used generally of wealth regarded as an evil influence. 1531 W.… …   Proverbs new dictionary

• you cannot get a quart into a pint pot — A quart is an imperial measure of two pints. The metaphorical phrase to get (or put) a quart into a pint pot is also used. 1896 Daily News 23 July 4 They had been too ambitious. They had attempted what he might describe in homely phrase as… …   Proverbs new dictionary

• when the last tree is cut down, the last fish eaten, and the last stream poisoned, you will realize that you cannot eat money — Native American saying. 1983 H. WASSERMAN America Born and Reborn 277 ‘When you have polluted the last river,’ goes an Osage saying, ‘when you have caught the very last fish, and when you have cut down the very last tree, it is too bad that then …   Proverbs new dictionary

• you're joking — you’re joking you must be joking spoken phrase used for saying that you cannot believe that someone really means what they have just said because it seems so surprising or so silly ‘She’s thirty five, and she’s going out with a nineteen year… …   Useful english dictionary