Once a married couple divorce, they cannot reconcile. · don't cry over spilt milk.
eş: 後悔先に立たず
köken: Partial calque of Literary Chinese 覆水難收 (fùshuǐnánshōu, literally “It is hard to retrieve spilt water”). Originally read as 覆水収(ふくすいおさ)め難(がた)し (fukusui osame-gatashi) in kanbun kundoku. This form literally means "spilt water does not return to the basin". The back-formation of this form in pseudo-kanbun would be 覆水不返盆.