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• Take the bitter with the sweet
  Take the bitter with the sweet

  Accept life's misfortunes as well as its joys.
• take the bitter with the sweet
  take the bitter with the sweet

  Accept adversity as well as good fortune, as in Although he got the job, he hadn't counted on having to work with Matthew; he'll just have to take the bitter with the sweet. This idiom uses bitter for “bad” and sweet for “good,” a usage dating from the late 1300s. It was first recorded in John Heywood's 1546 proverb collection. For a synonym, see take the rough with the smooth.

Take the bitter with the sweet

Cultural  

1. Accept life's misfortunes as well as its joys.

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take the bitter with the sweet Idioms  

1. Accept adversity as well as good fortune, as in Although he got the job, he hadn't counted on having to work with Matthew; he'll just have to take the bitter with the sweet. This idiom uses bitter for “bad” and sweet for “good,” a usage dating from the late 1300s. It was first recorded in John Heywood's 1546 proverb collection. For a synonym, see take the rough with the smooth.

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Example Sentences

"The point of the bankruptcy process is to take the bitter with the sweet," he said.

From Reuters • Apr. 4, 2023

But when you buy into an blogging autodidact — especially one as subtly funny and dark as Mr. Romenesko — you take the bitter with the sweet.

From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2011

In racing, you must take the bitter with the sweet.

From Time Magazine Archive

It seemed hard, after tasting of the sweets of official position, to be returned to the ranks, but I had to take the bitter with the sweet, and a soldier must not kick.

From How Private George W. Peck Put Down The Rebellion or, The Funny Experiences of a Raw Recruit - 1887 by Peck, George W. (George Wilbur)

You must learn to take the bitter with the sweet.

From The Meadow-Brook Girls Afloat by Aldridge, Janet