Mr. Wolf and I were having a conversation about something this morning and I mentioned that quote about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results as being applicable to the situation. I couldn’t remember to whom the quote is attributed. Turns out it’s Albert Einstein, who (supposedly) said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Rather a timely quote, I thought… for the situation we were discussing, as well as politically.
I thought it was kind of funny to discover it was an Einstein quote, because just yesterday I picked up this book for Mr. Wolf at the university bookstore: The Einstein Scrapbook
I paged through it quickly but will wait for him to be done with it before I read through the entire thing. It looks really interesting, though, with photos and personal letters.
I’ve heard that saying applied to serial marriers/divorcers. Or a version thereof: “The triumph of optimism over experience.” And, yes, it applies to the current situation.
It wasn’t Einstein. It is more probably a quote by a famous Psychologist, Rollo May, once said, “… the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results each timeâ€
I am bewildered by the accepted title wave of quotes attributed to Einstein. Why would Einstein be defining insanity? Every occur how odd that would be?
Meh. It’s all over teh innerwebz as being attributed to Einstein, not May. One guy saying so in a comment somewhere doesn’t trump the many, maaaaaany quote sites as far as I’m concerned.
You can find it attributed to Rita Mae Brown, for that matter.
And please note that I said “supposedly”.