eat one's cake and have it, too

Idioms  

1. Also, have one's cake and eat it, too. Have a dual benefit, consume something and still possess it, as in Doug was engaged to Ann and still dating Jane; he was trying to eat his cake and have it, too. This metaphoric expression is often put negatively, as it already was in John Heywood's proverb collection of 1546: “You cannot eat your cake and have your cake.”

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Example Sentences

One can not eat one's cake and have it too.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 12 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists by Hubbard, Elbert

One cannot eat one's cake and have it too.

From Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 2 by Huxley, Thomas Henry