Again I turn to you in order to seek an equivalent idiom to the Spanish one: "¡Qué me quiten lo baila’o!".

This is used when, having unexpectedly accomplished a business, some kind of success arrives but is nonetheless menaced, so that it won’t last long. If someone reminds you the latter, you may well answer: "OK, but, ¡qué me quiten lo baila’o!" meaning that you have already enjoyed a while and that very pleasure cannot be taken away from you.

The "business" might be of any sort; but surely the sentimental one, that is, an affaire or simply a succesful flirt, is the most common when you use that phrase.

Example:

- So, you got it with your boss’s wife… Well, man, you might be saying good-bye to your office.

- Ha, that’s right, but ¡qué me quiten lo baila’o!

(The boss might sack him, but now it’s too late to prevent his wife from cheating with him…)

Thanks for your troubles!

      WS.

After the song "They Can’t Take that Away From Me" (lyrics Ira Singer, music George Gershwin), there is no need for another idiom.

As Rick said to Ilsa in Casablanca, "We’ll always have Paris."

You might use the venerable saying Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.

That’s Samuel Butler and Tennyson’s saying.
You can replace the double occurrence of ‘loved’ with another word. I think I’ve heared ‘fought’ and ‘played’ used instead.

- Garzo.

[quote author=Garzo link=board=idiom;num=1087579259;start=0#4 date=06/19/04 at 14:34:24]You might use the venerable saying Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. . . . - Garzo.

This must be related to the refrain, "cras amet qui nunquam amavit quique amavit cras amet" from Pervigilium Veneris.  The Latin phrase means, "One who has never loved should love tomorrow, and one who has loved should love tomorrow."

Thanks mates, very useful indeed!

Garzo:

You might use the venerable saying [I]Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.[/I]

We have it in Spanish, too, and it sounds so good to my ears in the tongue of Cervantes that I would have never thought it was from an English-speaker!

[I]Mejor haber amado y haber perdido que nunca haber amado.[/I]

Simply gorgeous.

Anders:

After the song "They Can’t Take that Away From Me" (lyrics Ira Singer, music George Gershwin), there is no need for another idiom.

Now that I think of it… In English it does sound like Mel Gibson’s Braveheart prior to battle encouragement… "they may take our lives, but they’ll never take OUR FREEDOM?! "

          WS.