Insanity "Einstein" quote

[thenostromo]

I think the Einstein attribution for a quote in the "Sanity" group of quotes should at the very least say "attributed," and I believe there is evidence to suggest it is from Rita Mae Brown. I've also seen it attributed as a Chinese proverb...

"This brings us to the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result [1]"
[1] Rita Mae Brown, Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual. New York: Bantam Books, 1988.
http://interactive.sei.cmu.edu/news@sei/columns/watts_new/1999/September/watts-sep99.htm

And BTW here's another page which says it is from Rubyfruit Jungle
www.bigmindmedia.com/frautschi/quotes/brown.txt

"The world we've made, as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far, creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of thinking"
~ Albert Einstein.
http://www.lemberg.com/brekthru.shtml

On that same webpage you will find this remark:

"...as the author Rita Mae Brown wrote, "Insanity is when you keep doing the same things expecting different results".
~Paul Lemberg

This person claims:
Rita Mae Brown in Rubyfruit Jungle says the definition of insanity is doing the same thing, but expecting a different result.
~ Sandra Ford Walston
http://www.walstoncourage.com/pages/books/chapterten.htm

This person read Rita Mae Brown's "Rubyfruit Jungle" for the specific reason of finding this quote, and did not find it
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/pipermail/lit-med/2000/001059.html

...in the words of Rita Mae Brown:
Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results... ~found on the Internet

And the Internet will provide all kinds of attributions:

"Insanity", said Rudyard Kipling, "is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results".
http://www.canceraction.org.gg/diff.htm

Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different outcome.
~Chinese Proverb

[mgm]

Thanks for the reminder, I was going to check on that after seeing it in the other thread. I'll see what I can dig up.
_________________
Michael Moncur
Owner and maintainer, The Quotations Page

[mgm]

Hmmm, can't find anything definitive in books or on the Web. I'll mark it as (attributed) for now.

Note: the "level of thinking" quotation is difficult to source, but I know it isn't Einstein. It's marked attributed already...
_________________
Michael Moncur
Owner and maintainer, The Quotations Page

[thenostromo]

Yep. I messed up by including that other quote attributed to Einstein.
It sure is widely attributed, though. Strange.
The closest I found to a reference to a source is:

The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.
-- Albert Einstein (quoted in advertising)
http://www.ehcd.com/websteen/quotes.html

[Riddick1337]

YIkes!!
Thats a lot of searching!!
_________________
Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.

[rrahl]

I've also found references that Benjamin Franklin said this.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/benjaminfr109067.html

Since Rita Mae Brown is still alive and Einstein and Franklin predate her, I'd be more inclined to attribute this to one of them. And Benjamin Franklin is most likely the first one to have said it since he predates all of them, including Kipling.

[Phaedrus]

I wouldn't put too much faith in the Brainyquote site.

[thenostromo]

I'll second that. That brainyquote site is doing more to hurt the quotation sourcing business than any other (imho).
Welcome to the Quotation Page Forums, rrahl. Any input is appreciated.