"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results."

[cthulu2016]

Two fun facts about this quote.

1) Albert Einstein did not say this. (The quote wrongly attributed to him started out in AA and NA circles, and was first published in the precise form of this OP headline in 1983 in a book by Rita Mae Brown.)

2) It is a terrible definition of insanity. Buying lottery tickets, for instance, is merely dumb. It is not insane. Thinking your horrible boyfriend will change *this time* is dumb, but not particularly suggestive of insanity.

Tearing out your eyes so that you will not see sin and will thus ascend into heaven is insane.

Stalking Jessica Alba because you believe her to be in love with you is (very, very probably) insane.

Charlie Brown is not insane for thinking Lucy will let him kick the football. He is merely foolish.

[samsingh]

1. like voting repug and expecting a better economy or any level

of intelligence or concern for the Country.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Funny--I always figgered Charlie was brain-damaged from falling

too many times on his head after Lucy jerked the football away, thus accounting for his behavioral rigidity and inability to break the set.


"Charlie Brown is not insane for thinking Lucy will let him kick the football. He is merely foolish."

[PETRUS]

3. What is it when someone clings to an opinion in spite of a mountain of evidence to the contrary?

Stupid, crazy, or something else? Resolute? Skeptical? Superstitious?

[wandy]

4. Attempting to repeal Obama care for the 34th time IS insane.

Attempting to repeal Obamacare as the first act of the 113 Congress IS insane.
Attempting to repeal Obamacare to show the new kinder and gentler image of the Teapublican party IS insane.
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/03/michele_bachmann_again_tries_to_repeal_obamacare/
Then and again we are talking Michele Bachmann here.
Possibly Batshit Crazy is a better description.

[bemildred]

5. You are right, that's obsession or stupidity, not insanity.

Sometimes things don't give consistent results anyway, you might be waiting for a 7 to come up, or hoping to beat the level this time.