Quote: Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results
Albert Einstein? Al-Betimes? Narcotics Anonymous? Max Nordau? George Bernard Shaw? Samuel Beckett? George A. Kelly? Rita Mae Brownish? John Larroquette? Jessie Potter? Werner Erhard?
Dear Quote Investigator: Information technology's foolish to repeat ineffective deportment. Ane popular formulation presents this betoken harshly:
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a dissimilar effect.
These words are usually credited to the acclaimed genius Albert Einstein. What practise yous think?
Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Einstein wrote or spoke the statement higher up. It is listed within a section called "Misattributed to Einstein" in the comprehensive reference "The Ultimate Quotable Einstein" from Princeton University Printing. [1] 2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited by Alice Calaprice, Section: Misattributed to Einstein, Quote Folio 474, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (Verified on paper)
The primeval strong match known to QI appeared in October 1981 within a Knoxville, Tennessee newspaper article describing a coming together of Al-Anon, an organization designed to help the families of alcoholics. The announcer described the "Twelve Steps" of Al-Anon which are based on similar steps employed in Alcoholics Anonymous. The newspaper began with these two steps: [two] 1981 October eleven, The Knoxville News-Picket Al-Anon Helps Family, Friends to Orderly Lives by Betsy Pickle (Living Today Staff Writer), Quote Page F17, Column 2, Knoxville, Tennessee. (GenealogyBank)
Pace 1: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.
Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore united states of america to sanity
I of the attendees at the meeting hesitated to take the accuracy of second pace. Emphasis added to excerpts past QI:
Not all the women are willing to admit they needed to be "restored to sanity." In fact, one of them adamantly maintains that she had never reached a indicate of insanity. Simply some other remarks, "Insanity is doing the same affair over and over again and expecting unlike results."
The 2d earliest stiff match known to QI appeared in a pamphlet printed past the Narcotics Anonymous arrangement in November 1981: [3] 1981, Narcotics Anonymous Pamphlet, (Basic Text Approval Grade, Unpublished Literary Piece of work), Chapter Iv: How It Works, Step Two, Folio 11, Printed November 1981, Copyright 1981, W.South.C.-Literature … Go on reading
The price may seem higher for the addict who prostitutes for a gear up than information technology is for the addict who merely lies to a doctor, but ultimately both pay with their lives. Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting unlike results.
QI acquired a PDF of the document with the quotation above on the website amonymifoundation.org dorsum in February 2011. The certificate stated that is was printed in November 1981, and it had a 1981 copyright find. The website was later reorganized, only the certificate remains available via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine database.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological lodge.
The linkage between insanity and repetition has a long history. The controversial book "Degeneration" by Max Nordau was published in German in 1892 and translated into English language by 1895. Nordau examined the works of a diversity of artists and savagely attacked those that contained repetition which he believed evinced a mental defect in the creator. For example, he criticized Maurice Maeterlinck'due south "La Princesse Maleine": [4] 1895 Copyright, Degeneration by Max Nordau (Max Simon Nordau) (Translated from the 2d Edition of the German Work), Quote Page 238, D. Appleton and Company. (Google Books Total View) link
Has anyone anywhere in the poetry of the two worlds ever seen such complete idiocy? These 'Ahs' and 'Ohs,' this desire of comprehension of the simplest remarks, this repetition four or five times of the same imbecile expressions, gives the truest believable clinical picture of incurable cretinism. These parts are precisely those about extolled by Maeterlinck'south admirers.
When George Bernard Shaw reviewed Nordau'south opus he turned the criticism of repetition back upon the author and suggested that Nordau might diagnose himself equally mentally unsound: [5] 1895 July 27, Liberty, Volume 11, Number 6, A Degenerate's View of Nordau past Bernard Shaw, Quote Folio two, Column 1, Published past Benj. R Tucker, New York. (Reprint in 1970 by Greenwood Reprint … Continue reading
I have read Max Nordau'due south "Degeneration" at your request,—2 hundred and sixty thou mortal words, saying the same affair over and over once again. That, every bit yous know, is the way to drive a thing into the listen of the world, though Nordau considers it a symptom of insane "obsession" on the part of writers who do not share his ain opinions. His message to the earth is that all our characteristically mod works of art are symptoms of disease in the artists, and that these diseased artists are themselves symptoms of the nervous exhaustion of the race by overwork.
The 1955 book "The Psychology of Personal Constructs" by George A. Kelly included a definition that corresponded to the maxim under investigation although it employed a different vocabulary: [six] 1955, The Psychology of Personal Constructs by George A. Kelly, Book 2: Clinical Diagnosis and Psychotherapy, Quote Page 831, Published by West. Due west. Norton & Company, New York. (Verified on newspaper)
From the standpoint of the psychology of personal constructs nosotros may define a disorder every bit any personal construction which is used repeatedly in spite of consistent invalidation. This is an unusual definition, equally psychological thinking ordinarily goes.
In October 1981 an educator and counselor on family relationships delivered a speech containing a thematically related adage: [vii] 1981 October 24, The Milwaukee Sentinel, Search For Quality Called Key To Life by Tom Ahern, Quote Folio 5, Cavalcade five, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Google News Archive)
"If you always exercise what you've always done, you always get what you've always gotten." That was the advice of Jessie Potter, the featured speaker at Friday's opening of the seventh annual Woman to Woman conference.
More information about the quotation above is available hither.
In October 1981 the saying was spoken by an attendee of an Al-Betimes meeting as noted previously:
Insanity is doing the same thing over and once again and expecting different results.
In Nov 1981 a pamphlet from Narcotics Bearding contained a shut lucifer as noted previously:
Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.
The 1983 novel "Sudden Expiry" past Rita Mae Brown included an example credited to Jane Fulton who was a graphic symbol within the book: [eight] 1983, Sudden Death by Rita Mae Brown, Affiliate 4, Quote Page 68, Published past Bantam Books, New York. (Verified with scans)
The trouble with Susan was that she fabricated the same mistakes repeatedly. She'd fall in love with a woman and consume her. Susan thought that her mere presence was enough. What more was there to give? When she tired, usually afterwards a year or so, she'd find another woman.
Unfortunately, Susan didn't recall what Jane Fulton once said. "Insanity is doing the same matter over and over over again, simply expecting different results."
A June 1983 volume review of "Sudden Death" in "The Clarion-Ledger" of Jackson, Mississippi reprinted the saying: [9] 1983 June 19, The Clarion-Ledger, "Sudden Death" a complex metaphor past Stephen L. Silberman, (Book review of "Sudden Death" past Rita Mae Brownish), Quote Page 7H, Cavalcade 2, … Keep reading
Women'southward tennis gets a thorough dissecting in this story. Jane Fulton is the critical sports writer who contends "Mod professional sports rewards players for part instead of character. Responsibility is normally defined as doing a job better than anyone else." She looks askance at professional person tennis and says "Win and go a god. Lose and exist forgotten." Finally after following the lives and careers of the players, and the game itself, she concludes, "Insanity is doing the aforementioned thing over and over and over over again, but expecting different results."
Also in 1983 Samuel Beckett, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, offered a counterpoint perspective in his work "Worstward Ho": [x] 1983, Worstward Ho past Samuel Beckett, Quote Folio vii, Grove Press Inc., New York. (Verified with scans)
All of sometime. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Ever failed. No thing. Try again. Fail over again. Neglect ameliorate.
In Jan 1986 the Emmy-winning actor John Larroquette who was a star in the idiot box comedy series "Night Court" shared the definition during a newspaper interview: [11] 1986 January 5, The Sydney Morning Herald, Television with Jacqueline Lee Lewes: From drugs, drinkable to… Nighttime Court: 'Confessions of an Emmy Star, Quote Page 31, Column three, Sydney, New … Proceed reading
He pops in a definition of insanity – "It'due south the repetition of the aforementioned activity expecting different results. Similar jumping out of a 40-storey building, breaking every os, spending half dozen months in hospital, going dorsum to the aforementioned building, upwardly to the 39th flooring, jumping and expecting it to be different. It is NEVER different."
In April 1986 an opinion slice past Baltazar A. Acevedo Jr in "The Dallas Morning News" of Texas included the saying: [12] 1986 April 25, The Dallas Morning News, Leadership Beyond Ethnicity Should Be Goal of Dallasites by Baltazar A. Acevedo Jr., Dallas, Texas. (NewsBank Admission World News)
I one time heard insanity divers as a procedure by which an private or a system does something over and over again in the aforementioned way while nevertheless expecting different results. To continue to evaluate and address issues in our community strictly forth indigenous, instead of human, considerations is insane if but for i reason: Information technology will lead to the polarization that is the standard of paranoid societies.
The 1988 book "Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World" included an instance: [13] 1988 Copyright, Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Cocky-Indulgent World: Seven Edifice Blocks for Developing Capable Young People past H. Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelsen, Quote Page 174, Published by … Continue reading
Flexibility is the ability to bend when we observe ourselves in unworkable positions. A universal characteristic of insanity is inflexibly doing the same thing over and over while hoping for unlike results. Flexibility in the face of changing circumstances, by dissimilarity, is a authentication of mental wellness.
Past 1990 the saying was being attributed to Einstein. For case, the "Austin American-Statesman" of Austin, Texas published the following remark made past Travis County District Chaser Ronnie Earle: [xiv] 1990 November 19, Austin American-Statesman, Section: News, Prison Puzzle – Threat of price explosion poses difficult choices by Mike Ward, Quote Page A1, Austin, Texas. (NewsBank Access World … Go on reading
Einstein once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a dissimilar consequence.
In 1991 "The Seattle Times" printed the thoughts of an Indiana gauge who ascribed another version of the saying to Einstein: [15] 1991 July 4, The Seattle Times, Section: Editorial, Getting Out of the Freedom Business by Don Williamson, Quote Page A8, Seattle, Washington. (NewsBank Access World News)
The jurist from the Hoosier State subscribes to Albert Einstein'due south definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a dissimilar consequence."
In 2000 a columnist working for the Knight Ridder News Service ascribed a version of the saying to the influential lecturer and trainer Werner Erhard although the name was misspelled as "Erhart": [16] 2000 July 30, The Indianapolis Star, Get a plan to overcome problem spots by Tim O'Brien (Knight Ridder News Service), Quote Page J3, Column 1, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Newspapers_com)
Werner Erhart described insanity equally 'repeating identical behavior and expecting a different result.' If we repeatedly have difficulties in an expanse of life, doesn't information technology make sense that our behaviors crusade the problems?
In 2016 the webcomic "xkcd" depicted two characters conversing; the commencement mentioned the now well-known definition of insanity, and the 2nd replied with a remark that implicitly and cleverly applied the logic of the definition to his companion: [17] Website: xkcd Comic, Comic title: Insanity, Comic writer: Randall Munroe, Date on website: March 18, 2016, Website clarification: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. (Accessed xkcd.com … Go along reading
You've been quoting that cliché for years. Has it convinced anyone to change their mind yet?
In conclusion, based on current evidence the maxim originated in one of the twelve-step communities. Anonymity is greatly valued in these communities, and no specific author has been identified by the many researchers who have explored the provenance of this adage. The linkage to Albert Einstein occurred many years afterwards his death and is unsupported.
Epitome Notes: Two arrows pointing at one another from OpenClipart-Vectors at Pixabay. Portrait of Albert Einstein circa 1921 by Ferdinand Schmutzer accessed via Wikimedia Commons. Images have been retouched, cropped and resized.
(Smashing thanks to MJ Redman, Kevin Ashton, Melinda Denson, Linda Sternhill Davis, The Muser, Mededitor, Santanu Vasant, Simon Lancaster, Michael Cochran, David Meadows, J Carson, Guilherme Simões, Ed Darrell, Lee Winkelman, and Fabius Maximus (Ed.) whose inquiries led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Special thanks to the volunteer researchers Quora and Wikiquote who mentioned the Narcotics Anonymous citation. Also, thanks to the valuable research conducted past Barry Popik, Ben Zimmer, and Daniel Gackle. Many cheers to Bill Mullins who located the important October 11, 1981 citation.)
Update History: On July 31, 2019 the Oct eleven, 1981 citation was added to the commodity.
Source: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/
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