wel de lusten maar niet de lasten

16:31 Jun 15, 2011 

I agree with Barend. While having your cake and eating it too is also an expression used in the US, it does not carry the same meaning as the sentence that needs to be translated.

16:13 Jun 15, 2011 

this is not what he says
I think he wants to point out we need to assume the burden as well, it is part of the game

I think there is a subtle difference between what he says and 'you can't have it both ways'

used to say that you cannot have the advantages from both of two different possible decisions or actions
It's a choice between the time and the money - you can't have it both ways!

apart from this, could you say

Being a Dutch person, you should not want to have it both ways?

why shouldn't we stay close to the source?

I will be back on line around 11/12 pm

16:02 Jun 15, 2011 

May be simply 'you can't have it both ways'.

15:47 Jun 15, 2011 

ik ben het niet eens met Lianne

ik kan me moeilijk voorstellen dat Verhagen zegt:

je moet als Nederlander niet van twee walletjes willen eten

(informeel) have one's cake and eat it (too)
alles willen (hebben), van twee walletjes eten

daarnaast is er een verschil met 'wel de lusten en niet de lasten' en 'van twee walletjes willen eten'

het gaat hier niet om twee voordelen maar om het voordeel wel en het nadeel niet

maar ja, je zou het niet kunnen hebben van een nadeel als een voordeel kunnen beschouwen :-)

12:27 Jun 15, 2011 

Here in Devon (UK) they want to have their cake and eat it all the time too(-:

12:19 Jun 15, 2011 

I would suggest "They want to have their cake and eat it too", which is how you could describe this kind of behaviour where I come from (NZ), but I'm not sure if your particular audience (non-Dutch speakers?) or even other English speakers would read it the same way.