Buzz
The quote, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome,' is widely circulated and frequently displayed on motivational posters in classrooms and offices. It’s often used to highlight the pointlessness of repeating mistakes. Many attribute this saying to the renowned physicist Albert Einstein.
Although Einstein is a source of profound wisdom and has delivered many memorable quotes, the definition of insanity is not among them.
Einstein is one of several historical figures frequently misquoted due to their fame and perceived intellect. This misattribution is a quick way for individuals—or memes—to lend credibility to a statement. Others often misattributed include Mark Twain, Marilyn Monroe, and Abraham Lincoln.
Garson O’Toole, the writer behind Hemingway Didn’t Say That: The Truth Behind Familiar Quotations (2017), has refuted numerous misattributions. While investigating the 'insanity' quote, O’Toole found no proof that Einstein ever expressed this idea. He traced its origins to the early 1980s—roughly 25 years after Einstein’s passing in 1955—during 12-step recovery meetings.
At a 1981 Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, a journalist overheard a participant using the phrase, possibly referring to failed attempts to address their addiction. The saying soon appeared in a Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet that same year, though slightly reworded: 'Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.'
These early references helped the quote gain traction. By 1983, author Rita Mae Brown included it in her novel Sudden Death, where a character repeats the phrase.
The leap from Al-Anon meetings to Einstein’s name is harder to trace, but it predates the internet. As early as 1990, newspapers cited a district attorney attributing the quote to the renowned physicist.
As per Merriam-Webster, the true definition of insanity is 'a severely disordered state of the mind, typically associated with a specific mental illness.' Accurate, though not as memorable.
