Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!
Not Martin Luther — an old Latin logic example, rewordedAnonymous — a traditional Latin soritesLatin school-logic example · in print by 1658 (Heereboord)
No work by Luther is cited for this line. It is an English rewording, made specific to beer, of a Latin chain argument (“Qui bene bibit, bene dormit…”). Adrianus Heereboord’s 1658 logic textbook Ἑρμηνεια logica gives that argument as an example of an invalid sorites. The Latin is about drinking well, not beer.
“Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!” not Martin Luther. It is an English rewording, made specific to beer, of an old Latin logic example (“Qui bene bibit, bene dormit…”) that Adrianus Heereboord’s Hermeneia logica (1658) gives as faulty reasoning. Source: Quotle.info
⚠ The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Martin Luther. Use the credit shown above instead.
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Provenance
Where the syllogism actually comes from
Work
Ἑρμηνεια logica; seu Synopseos logicæ Burgersdicanæ explicatio
Author
Adrianus Heereboord
Published
1658, Ex officina R. Danielis (“Editio nova”)
Language
Latin (the popular English wording about beer has no known translator or source)
Qui bene bibit, bene dormit; qui bene dormit, non peccat; qui non peccat, est beatus; ergo: qui bene bibit est beatus. Vitium est, quod bene bibere sit causa per accidens somni.
Heereboord, 1658, as transcribed by Wikiquote
Quotle’s literal rendering: “Who drinks well sleeps well; who sleeps well does not sin; who does not sin is blessed; therefore who drinks well is blessed. The flaw is that drinking well is only an accidental cause of sleep.” The book gives this chain as an example of a sorites that does not hold. It does not offer it as advice, and it says nothing about beer or Luther.
Wikiquote’s Martin Luther page lists the line under Disputed: “Widely attributed to Luther, but actually is an example given in 1658 book Ἑρμηνεια logica of faulty logic,” and it quotes the Latin. Wikiquote ↗
The book: Adrianus Heereboord’s Ἑρμηνεια logica, published 1658 by Ex officina R. Danielis, which explains Burgersdijk’s logic. Google Books scan ↗
The blog Fauxtations found the Latin in the 1658 book. It shows the line is a sorites, a chain of syllogisms, that the book uses as an example of faulty logic. In the post’s words: “don’t think it’s medieval sage advice. It’s a medieval example of bad logic.” Fauxtations ↗
James Swan (Beggars All, 2020) found no documentation beyond the bare “Martin Luther” credit. He reports a version in a 1529 logic text by Luther’s colleague Philip Melanchthon, and he calls the circulating version “the obvious work of an editor” that made it about beer and about Luther. Beggars All ↗
The Latin source, Heereboord’s 1658 Ἑρμηνεια logica, is long in the public domain. The popular English wording about beer, though, has no identifiable author, translator or first publication, so Quotle asserts no copyright status for that exact text.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
How it got pinned on Luther
The line moves around online as Luther’s, usually with no book, sermon, letter or Table Talk entry cited. Researchers who chased it found an anonymous Latin logic example instead.
✕
Online quote lists & beer sitesMartin Luther Popular credit
Christian Today ran it as no. 4 in “The wisdom of Martin Luther in 12 quotes” (10 November 2017). Its only source was Goodreads. Christian Today ↗ Swan notes that it is “an obvious favorite of beer websites and beer enthusiasts.” Beggars All ↗
✕
WikiquoteMartin Luther Disputed
Wikiquote puts the line in Luther’s Disputed section and traces it to a 1658 logic book, where it is an example of faulty logic. Wikiquote ↗
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Older Latin form (reported)Philip Melanchthon Earlier use, not origin
Swan reports that a 1529 text by Melanchthon reads “Qui bene bibet, bene dormit, Qui bene dormit, non peccat, qui no peccat erit beatus, ergo qui bene bibet erit beatus.” He suspects the syllogism is older still. That is a colleague using a stock logic example, not Luther writing the line. Beggars All ↗
✓No source in Luther’s writings is cited for this line. It comes from a stock Latin sorites about drinking well, which Heereboord’s 1658 textbook gives as an example of invalid reasoning. The beer and the Luther credit were added later. Wikiquote ↗
Context
Why the joke is a logic lesson
In its Latin form, the line is a sorites, a chain argument in which each step’s predicate becomes the next step’s subject. Wikipedia ↗ Heereboord cites it because the chain breaks: drinking well causes sleep only “per accidens,” by accident. The conclusion that the drinker is blessed therefore does not follow.
The popular English version drops the logic lesson. It changes “drinks well” to “drinks beer” and adds the rallying cry “Thus, let us drink beer!” Pinning it on a famous German Reformer turned a schoolroom example of bad reasoning into a shareable toast.
A textbook example of a broken argument, recast as a beer toast.
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The real source
Who actually wrote it
AN
Anonymous (traditional Latin sorites)
Stock school-logic example · in print by 1658
The real ancestor of the “beer” line is an anonymous Latin chain argument: Qui bene bibit, bene dormit… (“Who drinks well, sleeps well…”). Logic books passed it along as a stock example. Adrianus Heereboord’s 1658 Ἑρμηνεια logica uses it to show a sorites that fails, and one researcher reports a version in a 1529 text by Philip Melanchthon. No individual author is known.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Latin original
Adrianus Heereboord, Ἑρμηνεια logica; seu Synopseos logicæ Burgersdicanæ explicatio, editio nova (Ex officina R. Danielis, 1658), 228 (Latin: “Qui bene bibit, bene dormit…”, given as an example of faulty logic). The English wording about beer is unsourced and attributed to Martin Luther without citation.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/whoever-drinks-beer-he-is-quick-to-sleep-whoever-sleeps/