Sign of Intelligence Doing Something Over and Over Again Expecting Different Results
Albert Einstein? Al-Anon? Narcotics Anonymous? Max Nordau? George Bernard Shaw? Samuel Beckett? George A. Kelly? Rita Mae Brown? John Larroquette? Jessie Potter? Werner Erhard?
Dear Quote Investigator: It'south foolish to repeat ineffective deportment. One pop formulation presents this indicate harshly:
The definition of insanity is doing the aforementioned thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
These words are unremarkably credited to the acclaimed genius Albert Einstein. What do yous remember?
Quote Investigator: At that place is no noun evidence that Einstein wrote or spoke the argument above. Information technology is listed within a department called "Misattributed to Einstein" in the comprehensive reference "The Ultimate Quotable Einstein" from Princeton Academy Press. [i] 2010, The Ultimate Quotable Einstein, Edited by Alice Calaprice, Section: Misattributed to Einstein, Quote Page 474, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. (Verified on paper)
The earliest strong match known to QI appeared in Oct 1981 within a Knoxville, Tennessee newspaper article describing a coming together of Al-Betimes, an system designed to help the families of alcoholics. The journalist described the "Twelve Steps" of Al-Anon which are based on similar steps employed in Alcoholics Anonymous. The newspaper began with these two steps: [2] 1981 October 11, The Knoxville News-Spotter Al-Betimes Helps Family unit, Friends to Orderly Lives past Betsy Pickle (Living Today Staff Writer), Quote Folio F17, Cavalcade two, Knoxville, Tennessee. (GenealogyBank)
Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over booze – that our lives had get unmanageable.
Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore the states to sanity
1 of the attendees at the coming together hesitated to take the accuracy of second step. Emphasis added to excerpts by 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 point of insanity. But some other remarks, "Insanity is doing the aforementioned thing over and over once more and expecting unlike results."
The second earliest potent match known to QI appeared in a pamphlet printed by the Narcotics Anonymous organization in November 1981: [iii] 1981, Narcotics Anonymous Pamphlet, (Basic Text Approval Form, Unpublished Literary Work), Chapter 4: How It Works, Step Ii, Folio 11, Printed November 1981, Copyright 1981, W.Southward.C.-Literature … Continue reading
The price may seem higher for the addict who prostitutes for a fix than information technology is for the aficionado who merely lies to a doc, but ultimately both pay with their lives. Insanity is repeating the aforementioned mistakes and expecting different results.
QI caused a PDF of the document with the quotation higher up on the website amonymifoundation.org back in February 2011. The document stated that is was printed in November 1981, and it had a 1981 copyright notice. The website was subsequently reorganized, but the document remains available via the Internet Archive Wayback Car database.
Beneath are boosted selected citations in chronological social club.
The linkage between insanity and repetition has a long history. The controversial volume "Degeneration" past Max Nordau was published in High german in 1892 and translated into English past 1895. Nordau examined the works of a diverseness 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's "La Princesse Maleine": [4] 1895 Copyright, Degeneration by Max Nordau (Max Simon Nordau) (Translated from the Second Edition of the German Work), Quote Page 238, D. Appleton and Company. (Google Books Full View) link
Has anyone anywhere in the verse of the ii worlds ever seen such complete idiocy? These 'Ahs' and 'Ohs,' this want of comprehension of the simplest remarks, this repetition four or five times of the same imbecile expressions, gives the truest conceivable clinical moving-picture show of incurable cretinism. These parts are precisely those nearly extolled by Maeterlinck's admirers.
When George Bernard Shaw reviewed Nordau's opus he turned the criticism of repetition back upon the author and suggested that Nordau might diagnose himself every bit mentally unsound: [5] 1895 July 27, Liberty, Volume 11, Number 6, A Degenerate'southward View of Nordau by Bernard Shaw, Quote Page 2, Column one, Published by Benj. R Tucker, New York. (Reprint in 1970 past Greenwood Reprint … Go on reading
I take read Max Nordau's "Degeneration" at your request,—two hundred and sixty 1000 mortal words, saying the same thing over and once again. That, equally you know, is the way to drive a affair into the mind of the world, though Nordau considers it a symptom of insane "obsession" on the part of writers who practise not share his own opinions. His message to the world is that all our characteristically modern 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 volume "The Psychology of Personal Constructs" past George A. Kelly included a definition that corresponded to the maxim under investigation although it employed a different vocabulary: [6] 1955, The Psychology of Personal Constructs by George A. Kelly, Volume 2: Clinical Diagnosis and Psychotherapy, Quote Page 831, Published by W. W. Norton & Company, New York. (Verified on newspaper)
From the standpoint of the psychology of personal constructs we may define a disorder as whatever 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 advisor on family relationships delivered a speech communication containing a thematically related adage: [7] 1981 October 24, The Milwaukee Lookout, Search For Quality Chosen Fundamental To Life by Tom Ahern, Quote Page 5, Column 5, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Google News Archive)
"If yous always exercise what you've always done, you ever become what you've always gotten." That was the advice of Jessie Potter, the featured speaker at Friday'due south opening of the seventh annual Adult female to Adult female conference.
More than information about the quotation above is available here.
In October 1981 the saying was spoken past an attendee of an Al-Betimes meeting as noted previously:
Insanity is doing the same matter over and again and expecting different results.
In November 1981 a pamphlet from Narcotics Anonymous contained a close match as noted previously:
Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting unlike results.
The 1983 novel "Sudden Death" by Rita Mae Dark-brown included an case credited to Jane Fulton who was a character within the book: [8] 1983, Sudden Expiry past Rita Mae Brown, Chapter 4, Quote Page 68, Published by Bantam Books, New York. (Verified with scans)
The trouble with Susan was that she made the same mistakes repeatedly. She'd fall in love with a adult female and eat her. Susan thought that her mere presence was plenty. What more was there to give? When she tired, normally after a year or so, she'd find another woman.
Unfortunately, Susan didn't remember what Jane Fulton one time said. "Insanity is doing the same matter over and over over again, but expecting dissimilar results."
A June 1983 book review of "Sudden Decease" in "The Blaring-Ledger" of Jackson, Mississippi reprinted the saying: [nine] 1983 June nineteen, The Blaring-Ledger, "Sudden Decease" a complex metaphor by Stephen 50. Silberman, (Book review of "Sudden Death" by Rita Mae Brownish), Quote Page 7H, Column 2, … Go on reading
Women's tennis gets a thorough dissecting in this story. Jane Fulton is the critical sports writer who contends "Mod professional sports rewards players for function instead of character. Responsibility is normally defined as doing a job better than anyone else." She looks askance at professional tennis and says "Win and become 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 same thing over and over and over again, just expecting different results."
Also in 1983 Samuel Beckett, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, offered a counterpoint perspective in his work "Worstward Ho": [10] 1983, Worstward Ho past Samuel Beckett, Quote Page 7, Grove Press Inc., New York. (Verified with scans)
All of old. Zilch else e'er. E'er tried. Ever failed. No matter. Effort again. Fail again. Fail amend.
In Jan 1986 the Emmy-winning histrion John Larroquette who was a star in the television comedy series "Night Court" shared the definition during a newspaper interview: [eleven] 1986 Jan 5, The Sydney Morning Herald, Television with Jacqueline Lee Lewes: From drugs, drink to… Night Court: 'Confessions of an Emmy Star, Quote Page 31, Column 3, Sydney, New … Continue reading
He pops in a definition of insanity – "Information technology's the repetition of the same action expecting unlike results. Like jumping out of a 40-storey edifice, breaking every bone, spending 6 months in hospital, going back to the aforementioned building, upwards to the 39th flooring, jumping and expecting it to be different. It is NEVER different."
In Apr 1986 an opinion piece by Baltazar A. Acevedo Jr in "The Dallas Morning News" of Texas included the saying: [12] 1986 April 25, The Dallas Forenoon News, Leadership Beyond Ethnicity Should Exist Goal of Dallasites past Baltazar A. Acevedo Jr., Dallas, Texas. (NewsBank Access World News)
I in one case heard insanity defined every bit a process past which an individual or a system does something over and over again in the same way while yet expecting dissimilar results. To go on to evaluate and address issues in our customs strictly along ethnic, instead of human, considerations is insane if but for ane reason: It will atomic number 82 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 Building Blocks for Developing Capable Young People by H. Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelsen, Quote Page 174, Published past … Continue reading
Flexibility is the ability to bend when we find ourselves in unworkable positions. A universal characteristic of insanity is inflexibly doing the aforementioned matter over and over while hoping for dissimilar results. Flexibility in the face up of changing circumstances, past contrast, is a authentication of mental health.
By 1990 the maxim was being attributed to Einstein. For example, the "Austin American-Statesman" of Austin, Texas published the following remark fabricated past Travis Canton District Chaser Ronnie Earle: [14] 1990 November 19, Austin American-Statesman, Section: News, Prison Puzzle – Threat of cost explosion poses difficult choices by Mike Ward, Quote Folio A1, Austin, Texas. (NewsBank Access World … Continue reading
Einstein once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a unlike effect.
In 1991 "The Seattle Times" printed the thoughts of an Indiana judge who ascribed another version of the saying to Einstein: [15] 1991 July 4, The Seattle Times, Department: Editorial, Getting Out of the Freedom Business organisation by Don Williamson, Quote Page A8, Seattle, Washington. (NewsBank Admission World News)
The jurist from the Hoosier State subscribes to Albert Einstein's definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a dissimilar outcome."
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 proper noun was misspelled as "Erhart": [sixteen] 2000 July thirty, The Indianapolis Star, Become a program to overcome trouble spots by Tim O'Brien (Knight Ridder News Service), Quote Page J3, Column ane, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Newspapers_com)
Werner Erhart described insanity equally 'repeating identical behavior and expecting a different consequence.' If nosotros repeatedly accept difficulties in an area of life, doesn't it make sense that our behaviors cause the problems?
In 2016 the webcomic "xkcd" depicted 2 characters conversing; the kickoff mentioned the now well-known definition of insanity, and the second 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, Engagement on website: March 18, 2016, Website description: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. (Accessed xkcd.com … Continue reading
Yous've been quoting that cliché for years. Has it convinced anyone to alter their mind nevertheless?
In decision, based on current evidence the saying originated in one of the twelve-step communities. Anonymity is profoundly 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 after his decease and is unsupported.
Image Notes: 2 arrows pointing at 1 another from OpenClipart-Vectors at Pixabay. Portrait of Albert Einstein circa 1921 past Ferdinand Schmutzer accessed via Wikimedia Commons. Images have been retouched, cropped and resized.
(Great thank you 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 codify this question and perform this exploration. Special thanks to the volunteer researchers Quora and Wikiquote who mentioned the Narcotics Anonymous citation. Also, cheers to the valuable inquiry conducted past Barry Popik, Ben Zimmer, and Daniel Gackle. Many thank you to Bill Mullins who located the of import Oct 11, 1981 citation.)
Update History: On July 31, 2019 the October 11, 1981 citation was added to the article.
Source: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/
0 Response to "Sign of Intelligence Doing Something Over and Over Again Expecting Different Results"
Post a Comment