There is a proverbial phrase
"You have to eat a peck of dirt in a lifetime (or before you die)"
A peck is an old imperial measurement still recognised in the USA and equivalent to two gallons or nine litres.
The point of the saying is that no-one can escape eating a certain amount of dirt on his or her food or more broadly that everyone must endure a number of unpleasant things in his or her lifetime. It is often said to console someone who has eaten some dirt or had to endure something unpleasant.
My grandfather's twist on it was that
"You don't want to do it all at once"!
It can't be unique to my granddad as it occurs in that modified form in L M Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables.
