You cannot flay the same ox twice.
Proverbs on a similar topic
- No man can serve two masters.
- If wishes were horses beggars would ride.
- You cannot eat your cake and have it.
- To carry coals to Newcastle.
- He that is born a fool is never cured.
- You cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear.
- Look not for musk in a dog's kennel.
- If the young man would and the old man could, there would be nothing undone.