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omelet

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you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette

Sometimes, you have to do unpleasant things in order to complete a task or meet a goal. Your students clearly don't respect you. I know you don't want to yell at them, but you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette. If I don't cut people's salaries, the company is going to go bankrupt. It's unfortunate, but you've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette.

See also: crack, egg, few, make, omelette

You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs.

Prov. In order to get something good or useful, you must give up something else. Jill: Why do they have to tear down that beautiful old building to build an office park? Jane: You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. Alan: We may make more money by raising our prices, but we'll also upset a lot of customers. Fred: You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.

See also: breaking, cannot, egg, make, omelet, without