About

This project began many years ago during my college days in London. As a German design student living in England, I would quote and translate German sayings from home to my English friend and flatmate Chris. We’d laugh at the strange literal translations and then marvel at the surprisingly universal truths behind them.

What started as a laugh between friends became a quiet obsession – how these compact, often poetic sayings have passed through generations, offering wisdom, humour, and the occasional warning. I love how a good saying can reveal something honest and unique about a culture, the things it values, worries about, and passes down from one generation to the next.

One evening, debating the merits of mixing beer and wine, I quoted the old German saying: 'Bier auf Wein, das lass sein – Wein auf Bier, das rat ich dir.' 'Beer after wine, leave it alone, wine after beer, that I advise to you.' We couldn’t stop laughing. And somehow, in that literal translation, the name of this whole project was born.

As a graphic designer, I’ve always dreamed of turning sayings like these into beautiful posters, postcards and prints, things you can hang on a wall or send to a friend who needs to hear them. This site is the perfect place to share them with the world and to discover many more from other cultures along the way. The ultimate dream is a book one day.

For my father, who had quite the collection of good advice, much of it passed down from his own parents, grandparents, and favourite aunties and uncles, which he shared happily and often. He first taught me the value of a good saying. And for Chris, for the laughs, the memories, and for being there at the beginning.

Rocky