Have Your Cake and Eat It
To have your cake and eat it refers to two things you can’t have or do at the same time.
A less puzzling earlier version of the expression is to “eat your cake and have it.” You can have cake and then eat it. However, if you eat the cake, you no longer have it.
When my husband and I married, we froze the top layer of our wedding cake until our first anniversary. The first year, we had our cake. At the beginning of the second year, we ate it. We could not enjoy the benefit of keeping and eating our cake at the same time. Each year, we made a choice.
You may want to enjoy both, but you can’t.
For example, you can’t have:
- Government benefits without tax payments
- Good grades without study time
- A new house without a financial investment
You must choose between your desires.
Do you keep your cake, or do you eat it?
All of life requires choices. Seek God’s guidance and choose wisely, since you reap what you sow.
“Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose” (Psalm 25:12 NIV).
Thanks to Lam DeBrot for the suggestion.
Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.
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6 thoughts on “Have Your Cake and Eat It”
Yours was a little different from the saying I’ve heard–“You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” Although in your explanation, it comes out the same–you can’t save it and eat it, too. One or the other are the choices. Your examples (can’t have government benefits unless we pay taxes) are right on target. Thank you, Diana, for your “wit and wisdom.”
Thank you for your encouragement and the additional information, Katherine. I love learning all the variations of our expressions. Happy new book release!
Thank you, Diana, for your help with this expression which had confused me and my husband for a long time. We thought that the expression doesn’t make sense because we reason that you can still have your cake after you eat it; you “have” the cake in a different form inside your body. We didn’t think “have it” here means “have it available to eat.” (-‘ Could you please help explain another expression, “To throw your hat in a ring?” Thanks so much again!
You are most welcome, Lam, and thank you for another great suggestion. Blessings on your day.
What a great explanation ma’am. Thank you! Always learning from you, my friend.
You are such an encourager, J.D. Thank you, my friend. Blessings.