you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube

English

Alternative forms

• you can't put the toothpaste back into the tube

Proverb

you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube

1. Once something is said or done, it cannot be unsaid or undone.
   • 2010, Erik Larsen, Savage Dragon #165:

     But, as they say, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, so once it was out there for everybody to read there was no way of keeping it a secret and that inevitably led to me working it into continuity.

Synonyms

• you can't put the shit back in the horse (vulgar)
• you can't unring a bell