Who really said it

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

Q: Did Benjamin Franklin say "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"?

No. Benjamin Franklin (d. 1790) never wrote or said this — there is no source in his works, and the Franklin credit only appears online from around 2004. Per Quote Investigator, the saying emerged in early-1980s twelve-step recovery meetings: it was recorded at an Al-Anon meeting in October 1981 and, in a close variant, in a November 1981 Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet ("Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results"), then spread through a 1983 novel. It is far more often pinned on Einstein, who also never said it.

Not Benjamin Franklin — an anonymous 12-step recovery saying Anonymous (12-step recovery fellowships) Early 1980s · Al-Anon / A.A. / Narcotics Anonymous recovery communities

Disputed Rights unconfirmed

Benjamin Franklin (d. 1790) never wrote or said this — there is no source in his works, and the Franklin credit only appears online from around 2004. Per Quote Investigator, the saying emerged in early-1980s twelve-step recovery meetings: it was recorded at an Al-Anon meeting in October 1981 and, in a close variant, in a November 1981 Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet (“Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results”), then spread through a 1983 novel. It is far more often pinned on Einstein, who also never said it.

Last verified 8 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

Put it on a slide

Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” Anonymous 12-step recovery saying (Al-Anon / Narcotics Anonymous, c. 1981) — often misattributed to Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Benjamin Franklin. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Anonymous (12-step recovery fellowships) — Al-Anon, A.A. & Narcotics Anonymous recovery communities. Theme: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The record

Earliest documented: Al-Anon meeting, Oct 1981; Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet, Nov 1981 (US)
Early print instance: Rita Mae Brown, Sudden Death (Bantam, 1983)
Popularly miscredited to: Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Rita Mae Brown
True origin: Anonymous twelve-step recovery folk saying — no single author identified

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

The wording circulated in twelve-step recovery rooms in the early 1980s; the 1981 Narcotics Anonymous variant read “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.” The polished “definition of insanity” framing and the Franklin/Einstein bylines were added later.

Quote Investigator: full chronology and attestations

How we know

1981 — recovery rooms. Quote Investigator dates the earliest instances to an Al-Anon meeting (Oct 1981) and a Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet (Nov 1981), not to any famous author.
Not Einstein. Princeton's The Ultimate Quotable Einstein files the line under “Misattributed to Einstein,” and Mental Floss confirms there is no evidence he said it.
Not Franklin. The Wikiquote talk page documents the Franklin credit as a late, sourceless accretion — the earliest Franklin attributions appear around 2004, with no citation in his writings.

The exact wording is an anonymous saying that arose in early-1980s twelve-step recovery communities; no identifiable author or single copyrighted work of origin can be established, so no public-domain or in-copyright status can be responsibly asserted. It is emphatically not a Benjamin Franklin text.

Fact-check

A magnet for famous bylines

This is one of the most-misattributed sayings on the internet. The same anonymous line gets pinned on whichever “smart” name a poster trusts most.

Benjamin Franklin No primary source

Nothing in Franklin's published works, letters, or Poor Richard's Almanack contains this line. Per the Wikiquote talk record, Franklin attributions only surface online around 2004 — more than two centuries after his death.

Albert Einstein Misattributed

The most common false credit. Princeton's The Ultimate Quotable Einstein lists it under “Misattributed to Einstein,” and Quote Investigator found no evidence he ever said or wrote it — the Einstein byline appears only from around 1990.

Mark Twain

Another borrowed-authority credit with no citation in Twain's works; noted alongside the Franklin and Einstein misattributions in the provenance discussions.

Rita Mae Brown Popularizer, not originator

Her 1983 novel Sudden Death gives the line to a fictional character, Jane Fulton — an early print appearance, but it postdates the 1981 recovery-meeting attestations and repeats an already-circulating saying rather than coining it.

The best evidence, per Quote Investigator, is that this is an anonymous twelve-step recovery saying first recorded in 1981 — the famous names came later.

Context

Why it matters

The line is deployed constantly — in boardrooms, therapy, and politics — as if it carried the authority of a scientific genius or a Founding Father. In truth it is anonymous folk wisdom from addiction-recovery meetings, where “insanity” had a concrete, lived meaning: the compulsive repetition of self-destructive behavior.

Stripped of its false bylines, the saying is arguably more honest, not less — it was earned in rooms full of people trying to break exactly the cycle it describes. It is also, strictly, not a real clinical definition of insanity, which is a further reason to be wary of citing it as expert authority.

An anonymous line from recovery rooms — not a genius, not a Founding Father.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Change Wisdom Growth

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Investigator: full origin investigationquoteinvestigator.com

The authoritative chronology: 1981 Al-Anon / Narcotics Anonymous attestations, the 1983 novel, and the later Einstein/Franklin misattributions.

Wikiquote: Benjamin Franklin (talk / discussion)en.wikiquote.org

Editors document the Franklin credit as a late, sourceless accretion (earliest c. 2004) absent from his works.

Mental Floss: Did Einstein really coin this?mentalfloss.com

Fact-check confirming Einstein did not say it and tracing the line to early-1980s twelve-step meetings.

Scientific American: Einstein's Parable of Quantum Insanityscientificamerican.com

Discussion of the persistent Einstein misattribution of the insanity saying.

Professor Buzzkill: Einstein & the insanity quoteprofessorbuzzkill.com

History-myth debunking of the Einstein attribution, aligning with the twelve-step origin.

The real source

Where it actually comes from

Anonymous (12-step recovery fellowships)

Early 1980s · Al-Anon, A.A. & Narcotics Anonymous recovery communities

The saying grew out of the shared, deliberately anonymous folk wisdom of twelve-step recovery groups such as Al-Anon, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Narcotics Anonymous, where “insanity” described the self-defeating cycle of repeating harmful behavior. Because these fellowships prize anonymity, no single author was ever recorded — which is precisely why the polished line was later hung on convenient famous names like Einstein and Franklin.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Provenance

Garson O'Toole (Quote Investigator), “Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results,” earliest documented in an Al-Anon meeting and a Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet, 1981; cf. Rita Mae Brown, Sudden Death (New York: Bantam, 1983).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-definition-of-insanity-is-doing-the-same-thing-over-and