you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube

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you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube

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

Once something is said or done, it cannot be unsaid or undone. 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.
Similar: you can't put the shit back in the horse, you can't unring a bell

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MLA

"you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/you%20can't%20put%20the%20toothpaste%20back%20in%20the%20tube. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/you%20can't%20put%20the%20toothpaste%20back%20in%20the%20tube

Chicago

"you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/you%20can't%20put%20the%20toothpaste%20back%20in%20the%20tube.

BibTeX

@misc{you_can_t_put_the_toothpaste_back_in_the_2026,
  title = {you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/you%20can't%20put%20the%20toothpaste%20back%20in%20the%20tube},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}