you can’t win —(also: you just can’t win) no matter how much you try, there is no way to succeed:
- Even though we try to educate everyone we come in contact with, sometimes you just can’t win.
you can’t win ’em all—is used to say that it is not possible to succeed at every thing one does:
- You can’t win ’em all. If someone doesn’t respond to you or indicates lack of interest, just move on.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase you can’t fight city hall—used to say that one is unable to overcome officialdom or bureaucracy:
- When it comes to judicial review of local government abuses, the fox is too often left guarding the henhouse. That all adds up to the depressing adage “you can’t fight city hall.”