You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs means that you can't achieve something important without also causing problems.
Progress always comes at a cost. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
Staying with the egg theme, if everyone now knows that a person or organisation has done something stupid, that person or organisation may now be said to have egg on their face.
This latest revelation has left the government with egg on its face.
Someone might warn you not to depend for your success on a single person or plan of action by telling you not to put all your eggs in one basket.
Make sure that you're working for a range of companies and don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Vegetables, too, feature in a number of idioms. If you persuade someone to work harder by rewarding them when they do good things but also punishing them when they do not, you might describe this as carrot and stick (the 'carrot' being a way of tempting an animal to move and the 'stick' used for beating the animal if it does not.
There will be incentives for people who recycle and fines for those who don't - a carrot and stick approach.
A situation or issue that causes a lot of disagreement is sometimes referred to as a hot potato.
Women's pay has become a hot potato in the world of football.
A lazy person who spends too much time sitting and watching television may be called, informally, a couch potato.
I've been a bit of a couch potato these past few weeks.
Two people who are very similar in appearance are sometimes described as being like (two) peas in a pod.
The girls are so alike- like two peas in a pod!
In UK English, if someone has lots of energy and enthusiasm, you can say they are full of beans.
Wow, you're full of beans this morning!
This idiom has a very different meaning in US English, however. There, if someone is full of beans, he/she is doing things that are not true.
He told you that? Oh, don't pay any attention to him: he's full of beans.
Meanwhile, when a person tells someone information that it should be secret, he's said to spill the beans.
So who spilled the beans about Sophie's surprise party?
While this idiom doesn't actually include a specified item of food, this often used idiom is useful. If you have a lot/too much on your plate, you have lot of/too many things to deal with at the moment.
Meghan's currently got three projects on the go so she's got a lot on her plate.
Note. Adapted from Kate Woodford's article.
Tailpiece.
A quiet day with the maid taking an off. The day had begun with rains and it seemed to be ending with rains, too. Shyla, of the Thyrocare, dropped by to inquire about my health. Damn sweet of her!
Progress always comes at a cost. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
Staying with the egg theme, if everyone now knows that a person or organisation has done something stupid, that person or organisation may now be said to have egg on their face.
This latest revelation has left the government with egg on its face.
Someone might warn you not to depend for your success on a single person or plan of action by telling you not to put all your eggs in one basket.
Make sure that you're working for a range of companies and don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Vegetables, too, feature in a number of idioms. If you persuade someone to work harder by rewarding them when they do good things but also punishing them when they do not, you might describe this as carrot and stick (the 'carrot' being a way of tempting an animal to move and the 'stick' used for beating the animal if it does not.
There will be incentives for people who recycle and fines for those who don't - a carrot and stick approach.
A situation or issue that causes a lot of disagreement is sometimes referred to as a hot potato.
Women's pay has become a hot potato in the world of football.
A lazy person who spends too much time sitting and watching television may be called, informally, a couch potato.
I've been a bit of a couch potato these past few weeks.
Two people who are very similar in appearance are sometimes described as being like (two) peas in a pod.
The girls are so alike- like two peas in a pod!
In UK English, if someone has lots of energy and enthusiasm, you can say they are full of beans.
Wow, you're full of beans this morning!
This idiom has a very different meaning in US English, however. There, if someone is full of beans, he/she is doing things that are not true.
He told you that? Oh, don't pay any attention to him: he's full of beans.
Meanwhile, when a person tells someone information that it should be secret, he's said to spill the beans.
So who spilled the beans about Sophie's surprise party?
While this idiom doesn't actually include a specified item of food, this often used idiom is useful. If you have a lot/too much on your plate, you have lot of/too many things to deal with at the moment.
Meghan's currently got three projects on the go so she's got a lot on her plate.
Note. Adapted from Kate Woodford's article.
Tailpiece.
A quiet day with the maid taking an off. The day had begun with rains and it seemed to be ending with rains, too. Shyla, of the Thyrocare, dropped by to inquire about my health. Damn sweet of her!
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