Sta You Neet Me and Go Do the Same Thing Again
Albert Einstein? Al-Anon? Narcotics Bearding? Max Nordau? George Bernard Shaw? Samuel Beckett? George A. Kelly? Rita Mae Brown? John Larroquette? Jessie Potter? Werner Erhard?
Dear Quote Investigator: It's foolish to repeat ineffective actions. I popular formulation presents this signal harshly:
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and once more and expecting a different consequence.
These words are usually credited to the acclaimed genius Albert Einstein. What do you think?
Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Einstein wrote or spoke the statement above. It is listed within a section chosen "Misattributed to Einstein" in the comprehensive reference "The Ultimate Quotable Einstein" from Princeton Academy Printing. [1] 2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited past Alice Calaprice, Section: Misattributed to Einstein, Quote Page 474, Princeton Academy Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (Verified on paper)
The primeval potent match known to QI appeared in October 1981 within a Knoxville, Tennessee newspaper article describing a coming together of Al-Anon, an organisation designed to help the families of alcoholics. The journalist described the "Twelve Steps" of Al-Anon which are based on like steps employed in Alcoholics Anonymous. The newspaper began with these two steps: [ii] 1981 October 11, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Al-Betimes Helps Family, Friends to Orderly Lives by Betsy Pickle (Living Today Staff Writer), Quote Folio F17, Column 2, Knoxville, Tennessee. (GenealogyBank)
Step 1: Nosotros admitted nosotros were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had go unmanageable.
Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
I of the attendees at the meeting hesitated to accept the accurateness of second pace. Emphasis added to excerpts by QI:
Non all the women are willing to admit they needed to exist "restored to sanity." In fact, one of them adamantly maintains that she had never reached a betoken of insanity. Just another remarks, "Insanity is doing the aforementioned thing over and over over again and expecting dissimilar results."
The second earliest strong friction match known to QI appeared in a pamphlet printed by the Narcotics Bearding organization in November 1981: [three] 1981, Narcotics Bearding Pamphlet, (Basic Text Approving Form, Unpublished Literary Work), Affiliate Iv: How It Works, Pace Ii, Folio eleven, Printed November 1981, Copyright 1981, W.S.C.-Literature … Go along reading
The cost may seem college for the addict who prostitutes for a gear up than information technology is for the aficionado who merely lies to a dr., but ultimately both pay with their lives. Insanity is repeating the aforementioned mistakes and expecting different results.
QI acquired a PDF of the document with the quotation above on the website amonymifoundation.org back in February 2011. The certificate stated that is was printed in November 1981, and information technology had a 1981 copyright notice. The website was subsequently reorganized, but the document remains available via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine database.
Below are boosted selected citations in chronological order.
The linkage betwixt insanity and repetition has a long history. The controversial book "Degeneration" by Max Nordau was published in German in 1892 and translated into English by 1895. Nordau examined the works of a variety of artists and savagely attacked those that contained repetition which he believed evinced a mental defect in the creator. For case, he criticized Maurice Maeterlinck'south "La Princesse Maleine": [iv] 1895 Copyright, Degeneration by Max Nordau (Max Simon Nordau) (Translated from the 2d Edition of the German Piece of work), Quote Folio 238, D. Appleton and Visitor. (Google Books Full View) link
Has anyone anywhere in the poetry of the 2 worlds ever seen such consummate idiocy? These 'Ahs' and 'Ohs,' this want of comprehension of the simplest remarks, this repetition four or v times of the same imbecile expressions, gives the truest conceivable clinical moving-picture show of incurable cretinism. These parts are precisely those almost extolled by Maeterlinck's admirers.
When George Bernard Shaw reviewed Nordau'southward opus he turned the criticism of repetition back upon the writer and suggested that Nordau might diagnose himself as mentally unsound: [5] 1895 July 27, Liberty, Volume eleven, Number 6, A Degenerate'southward View of Nordau past Bernard Shaw, Quote Folio ii, Column ane, Published past Benj. R Tucker, New York. (Reprint in 1970 by Greenwood Reprint … Proceed reading
I have read Max Nordau'southward "Degeneration" at your request,—two hundred and sixty thousand mortal words, maxim the same thing over and once again. That, equally you know, is the way to drive a thing into the mind of the world, though Nordau considers information technology a symptom of insane "obsession" on the function of writers who do not share his own opinions. His bulletin to the world is that all our characteristically modern works of fine 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 volume "The Psychology of Personal Constructs" by George A. Kelly included a definition that corresponded to the proverb under investigation although it employed a different vocabulary: [vi] 1955, The Psychology of Personal Constructs past George A. Kelly, Volume 2: Clinical Diagnosis and Psychotherapy, Quote Folio 831, Published by Westward. W. Norton & Company, New York. (Verified on paper)
From the standpoint of the psychology of personal constructs we may define a disorder as any personal construction which is used repeatedly in spite of consequent invalidation. This is an unusual definition, equally psychological thinking ordinarily goes.
In October 1981 an educator and advisor on family relationships delivered a spoken language containing a thematically related adage: [7] 1981 October 24, The Milwaukee Lookout man, Search For Quality Called Key To Life by Tom Ahern, Quote Page 5, Column 5, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Google News Annal)
"If you always practice what you've always done, you always get what yous've always gotten." That was the advice of Jessie Potter, the featured speaker at Friday'south opening of the seventh almanac Woman to Woman conference.
More information about the quotation above is available here.
In October 1981 the proverb was spoken by an attendee of an Al-Anon meeting as noted previously:
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
In Nov 1981 a pamphlet from Narcotics Anonymous independent a close match equally noted previously:
Insanity is repeating the aforementioned mistakes and expecting different results.
The 1983 novel "Sudden Death" by Rita Mae Dark-brown included an example credited to Jane Fulton who was a character within the volume: [8] 1983, Sudden Death by Rita Mae Brown, Affiliate 4, Quote Page 68, Published by Runted Books, New York. (Verified with scans)
The trouble with Susan was that she made the aforementioned mistakes repeatedly. She'd autumn in love with a woman and consume her. Susan thought that her mere presence was plenty. What more than was in that location to give? When she tired, usually after a year or so, she'd find some other woman.
Unfortunately, Susan didn't call back what Jane Fulton once said. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, only expecting unlike results."
A June 1983 book review of "Sudden Death" in "The Clarion-Ledger" of Jackson, Mississippi reprinted the proverb: [ix] 1983 June 19, The Clarion-Ledger, "Sudden Death" a circuitous metaphor by Stephen L. Silberman, (Volume review of "Sudden Decease" by Rita Mae Brown), Quote Page 7H, Column 2, … Go along reading
Women's tennis gets a thorough dissecting in this story. Jane Fulton is the critical sports author who contends "Mod professional sports rewards players for function instead of character. Responsibility is normally defined every bit doing a job better than anyone else." She looks askance at professional tennis and says "Win and become a god. Lose and be forgotten." Finally later on post-obit the lives and careers of the players, and the game itself, she concludes, "Insanity is doing the same affair over and over and once again, but expecting different results."
As well in 1983 Samuel Beckett, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, offered a counterpoint perspective in his work "Worstward Ho": [ten] 1983, Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett, Quote Page vii, Grove Press Inc., New York. (Verified with scans)
All of old. Nothing else ever. Ever tried. Always failed. No affair. Endeavour once more. Fail once again. Fail improve.
In Jan 1986 the Emmy-winning player John Larroquette who was a star in the television comedy series "Night Courtroom" shared the definition during a newspaper interview: [eleven] 1986 Jan 5, The Sydney Morning Herald, Goggle box with Jacqueline Lee Lewes: From drugs, potable to… Night Court: 'Confessions of an Emmy Star, Quote Folio 31, Cavalcade 3, Sydney, New … Continue reading
He pops in a definition of insanity – "It's the repetition of the same activity expecting different results. Similar jumping out of a 40-storey building, breaking every bone, spending six months in hospital, going back to the same building, up to the 39th floor, jumping and expecting it to be dissimilar. Information technology is NEVER dissimilar."
In Apr 1986 an opinion piece by Baltazar A. Acevedo Jr in "The Dallas Morning time News" of Texas included the saying: [12] 1986 April 25, The Dallas Morn News, Leadership Beyond Ethnicity Should Exist Goal of Dallasites by Baltazar A. Acevedo Jr., Dallas, Texas. (NewsBank Admission Earth News)
I once heard insanity defined equally a procedure past which an individual or a system does something over and over again in the aforementioned style while nevertheless expecting different results. To go along to evaluate and address problems in our community strictly along indigenous, instead of human, considerations is insane if only for one reason: It will pb to the polarization that is the standard of paranoid societies.
The 1988 volume "Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World" included an instance: [13] 1988 Copyright, Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Cocky-Indulgent World: 7 Building Blocks for Developing Capable Young People by H. Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelsen, Quote Page 174, Published past … Proceed reading
Flexibility is the ability to bend when nosotros notice 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 up of changing circumstances, by contrast, is a authentication of mental wellness.
By 1990 the proverb was being attributed to Einstein. For example, the "Austin American-Statesman" of Austin, Texas published the following remark made by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle: [14] 1990 November 19, Austin American-Statesman, Department: News, Prison house Puzzle – Threat of cost explosion poses difficult choices by Mike Ward, Quote Page A1, Austin, Texas. (NewsBank Access World … Continue reading
Einstein once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
In 1991 "The Seattle Times" printed the thoughts of an Indiana approximate who ascribed another version of the saying to Einstein: [15] 1991 July four, The Seattle Times, Section: Editorial, Getting Out of the Liberty Business organisation by Don Williamson, Quote Page A8, Seattle, Washington. (NewsBank Access World News)
The jurist from the Hoosier Country subscribes to Albert Einstein'due south definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome."
In 2000 a columnist working for the Knight Ridder News Service ascribed a version of the maxim to the influential lecturer and trainer Werner Erhard although the proper 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, Cavalcade one, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Newspapers_com)
Werner Erhart described insanity as 'repeating identical behavior and expecting a dissimilar consequence.' If we repeatedly accept difficulties in an expanse of life, doesn't information technology brand sense that our behaviors crusade the problems?
In 2016 the webcomic "xkcd" depicted two characters conversing; the showtime mentioned the now well-known definition of insanity, and the 2d 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 author: Randall Munroe, Date on website: March eighteen, 2016, Website description: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. (Accessed xkcd.com … Continue reading
Yous've been quoting that cliche for years. Has it convinced anyone to alter their mind yet?
In conclusion, based on current show the saying originated in one of the twelve-step communities. Anonymity is greatly valued in these communities, and no specific author has been identified past the many researchers who have explored the provenance of this adage. The linkage to Albert Einstein occurred many years after his death and is unsupported.
Prototype Notes: Two arrows pointing at i some other from OpenClipart-Vectors at Pixabay. Portrait of Albert Einstein circa 1921 past Ferdinand Schmutzer accessed via Wikimedia Eatables. Images take been retouched, cropped and resized.
(Great cheers 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, thank you to the valuable research conducted by Barry Popik, Ben Zimmer, and Daniel Gackle. Many thanks to Bill Mullins who located the important October eleven, 1981 citation.)
Update History: On July 31, 2019 the Oct eleven, 1981 commendation was added to the commodity.
Source: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/
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