鱼与熊掌不可兼得

yú yǔ xióng zhǎng bù kě jiān dé

lit. the fish and the bear's paw, you can't have both at the same time (idiom, from Mencius); fig. you must choose one or the other

you can't always get everything you want; you can't have your cake and eat it

鱼

yú

fish (CL:條|条[tiao2],尾[wei3])

与

yǔ

and

熊

xióng

bear

掌

zhǎng

palm of the hand

不

bù

no; not so

可

kě

(prefix) can; may; able to; -able

兼

jiān

double

得

dé

to obtain