The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (262 page)
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Authors: John Andrew Simpson,
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you cannot HAVE your cake and eat it
You cannot ‘have it both ways’: once the cake is eaten, it can no longer be ‘had’ or retained in one's possession. The positions of
have
and
eat
are often reversed.
1546
Dialogue of Proverbs
II. ix. L2
I trowe ye raue, Wolde ye bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?
1611
Scourge of Folly
no. 271
A man cannot eat his cake and haue it stil.
1738
Polite Conversation
I. 90
She was handsome in her Time; but she cannot eat her Cake, and have her Cake.
1812
in
Document Transcriptions of War of 1812
(1959) VI. 204
We cannot have our cake and eat it too.
1878
Is he Popenjoy?
I. viii.
You can't eat your cake and have it too.
1938
Funeral in Eden
ii.
Not that the savages were especially savage. They have always been a sensitive people, and when they ate a man they probably felt genuinely sorry that they could not have their cake and eat it, so to speak.
1980
Middle Ground
159
Judith cannot eat her cake and have it. Judith liked Hugo for his style .. and she can bloody well suffer for its inconveniences.
have
and
eat
are often reversed.
1546Dialogue of Proverbs
II. ix. L2
I trowe ye raue, Wolde ye bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?
1611
Scourge of Folly
no. 271
A man cannot eat his cake and haue it stil.
1738
Polite Conversation
I. 90
She was handsome in her Time; but she cannot eat her Cake, and have her Cake.
1812
in
Document Transcriptions of War of 1812
(1959) VI. 204
We cannot have our cake and eat it too.
1878
Is he Popenjoy?
I. viii.
You can't eat your cake and have it too.
1938
Funeral in Eden
ii.
Not that the savages were especially savage. They have always been a sensitive people, and when they ate a man they probably felt genuinely sorry that they could not have their cake and eat it, so to speak.
1980
Middle Ground
159
Judith cannot eat her cake and have it. Judith liked Hugo for his style .. and she can bloody well suffer for its inconveniences.
have
HAWKS will not pick out hawks' eyes
1573Garden of Pleasure
104
One crowe neuer pulleth out an others eyes.
1817
Rob Roy
III. iii.
I wadna .. rest my main dependence on the Hielandmen—hawks winna pike out hawks' een.—They quarrel amang themsells .. but they are sure to join .. against a' civilized folk.
1883
Thicker than Water
III. xli.
Members of his profession .. while warning others of the dangers of the table, seem to pluck from them the flower Safety. (Is it that, since hawks do not peck out hawks' een, they know they can be cured for nothing?)
1915
Salute to Adventurers
vi.
I have heard that hawks should not pick out hawks' eyes. What do you propose to gain?
1975
Women in Wall
xiv.
The crow doesn't pluck out the crow's eye but poor folk bear the brunt.
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