Strange Thought
There's a quote sometimes atributed to Einstein, sometimes to Benjamin Franklin, that goes something like this: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
I seem to hear it more and more lately (which makes me believe the quote is modern, and merely attributed to older, wiser sources). It's got some snap to it, but upon reflection, is not particularly intelligent. First, it's too vague to mean much. Second, there are lots of cases where if you stick to something, change will happen. When it comes down to it, it's just a cheap shot to attack anyone you don't agree with.
In fact, I don't get why so many people keep using it. Is anyone ever convinced by it? Yet they keep saying it, over and over, expecting something different to happen.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:21 AM
6 Comments:
With overuse, all sayings become meaningless but its just a fancy way of telling someone to give up on a course of action that's not working.
Of course its the complete opposite of another venerated saying,
"Quitters never win, winners never quit." Though maybe you could distinguish between continued effort and continued repetitive effort.
Yes. When I keep at it, it's bravery, intelligence and foresight. When you keep at it, it's insanity.
Comedy and tragedy . . .
I had heard it attributed to Jung.
Wikiquote, following the Yale Book of Quotations, finds its earliest occurence in a 1983 book by Rita Mae Brown. But since I am pretty sure I had heard it passed around as a common aphorism by the late 1980s, that seems a bit late to me.
Scientifically speaking it's complete gibberish.
Great to hear from you, Matthew.
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