"Der klügere gibt nach" which directly translates to "the wiser one gives in" or more or less matches the idiom "it's better to bend than to break".
Growing up I heard this a lot and it's mostly use to silence those who have (well-founded) objections. Took me a while to realize that this leads to us following the stupid because they don't give in which subsequently makes the wise one the stupid one.
Millennial here, graduated highschool nearly 20 years ago. Still not ironing or owning an iron. If you hang your clothes up to dry and do it properly, you don't need to iron them.