{"id":23620,"date":"2024-08-21T20:46:26","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T20:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=23620"},"modified":"2024-08-24T20:47:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-24T20:47:40","slug":"foolish-consistency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=23620","title":{"rendered":"Foolish Consistency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/blog\/insanity.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"300\" alt=\"Insanity - definitions\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Albert Einstein supposedly said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It sounds like something he might have said, but there&#8217;s no evidence that he did. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/quoteinvestigator.com\/2017\/03\/23\/same\/\">Quote Investigator\u00ae<\/a>, the most likely source of this saying is a Narcotics Anoymous pamphlet published in November 1981, in which they say:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here something that Einstein did actual say that has a somewhat similar meaning: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He also said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ablereach\/3123979009\/in\/photolist-5L4d84-dJdLbA-dJ8iWt-2pSZ4MP-2peAX3N-4yMvvS-5FmqSp-5HJTEB-83nTop-9Wb8L7-59jZZY-V88dPZ-59fMaB-4Txa2J-3G9j5f-pxWR7-2kUNLvF-j4xWzJ-EisQmZ-pNPbVi-2kzuKWv-8uC3NH-8JdY3j-3czMGu-6J3U9h-btAaqr-4vMm69-3G9rB9-8tJXbq-9yXN9y-XPsvAR-oT4kjo-2krB9PJ-9XSPVy-2k5aszB-2k3oXrC-7Cu258-dQGPQc-2jcP3dn-8RocPT-2jcT53k-2k65C6W-duStgT-2k5kE5q-duStyM-2k59Xpp-2k1bBnW-2k11K8y-duSt7z-duSrTp\" title=\"Hobgoblin Squad\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/3227\/3123979009_3a23bdfd87.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"227\" alt=\"Hobgoblin Squad\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Another quotation that I came across the other day that has a related meaning is:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This appears in <em>Self Reliance<\/em>, an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson that was published in <em>Essays: First Series<\/em> in 1841. Here&#8217;s a longer version:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Apparently he meant this as criticism of a refusal to change one&#8217;s mind or adjust one&#8217;s position in light of new facts or different situations.<\/p>\n<p>So what is an actual definition of <strong>insanity<\/strong>? <\/p>\n<p>Here are a few:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The state of being insane; madness.<\/li>\n<li>Unsoundness of mind or lack of the ability to understand that prevents someone from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or that releases someone from criminal or civil responsibility (<em>law<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>Extreme folly or unreasonableness<\/li>\n<li>Something utterly foolish or unreasonable<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Insanity<\/strong> is a combination of <strong>in-<\/strong> (not), <strong>sane<\/strong> and <strong>-ity<\/strong> (the state of). It comes either from Latin <em>ins\u0101nus<\/em> (unsound in mind, mad, insane) and <em>-it\u0101s<\/em>; or from <em>in-<\/em> (lacking, without), <em>sanit\u0101s<\/em> (health, sanity). <em>Ins\u0101nus<\/em> and <em>sanit\u0101s<\/em> both come from <em>s\u0101nus<\/em> (sound, sane, well, correct), possibly from PIE <em>*seh\u2082-no-<\/em>, from <em>*seh\u2082-<\/em> (to satisfy), or from PIE <em>*sw\u0101-n-<\/em> (healthy, whole, active, vigorous).<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, what is a <strong>hobgoblin<\/strong> when it&#8217;s at home?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>A small, ugly goblin that makes trouble for humans. [from 1520s]<\/li>\n<li>A source of dread, fear or apprehension; a bugbear.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>From <strong>hob<\/strong> (elf, from Hob, a variant of Rob, short for Robin Goodfellow, an elf in German folklore), and <strong>goblin<\/strong> (a malevolent and grotesque diminutive humanoid).<\/p>\n<p>In some of the stories I read, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/wanderinginn.com\/\">Wandering Inn<\/a>, <strong>hobgoblins<\/strong> are larger varieties of <strong>goblins<\/strong>, and don&#8217;t always make trouble for humans, and are not a source of dread, fear or apprehension for those who get to know them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sources:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.inc.com\/kevin-daum\/26-genius-quotes-from-albert-einstein-that-will-make-you-sound-smarter.html\">https:\/\/www.inc.com\/kevin-daum\/26-genius-quotes-from-albert-einstein-that-will-make-you-sound-smarter.html<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Emerson_and_Wilde_on_consistency\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Emerson_and_Wilde_on_consistency<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/insanity\">https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/insanity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/sanus#Latin\">https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/sanus#Latin<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/insanity\">https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/insanity<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/hobgoblin\">https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/hobgoblin<\/a><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/my.kualo.com\/uk\/go\/00572\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.kualo.com\/rewards\/uk-unlimited-728x90.gif\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" border=\"0\"\nalt=\"Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Albert Einstein supposedly said: &#8220;The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.&#8221; It sounds like something he might have said, but there&#8217;s no evidence that he did. According to Quote Investigator\u00ae, the most likely source of this saying is a Narcotics Anoymous pamphlet published in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,116,10,15,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-german","category-language","category-latin","category-proto-indo-european"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23620"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23626,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23620\/revisions\/23626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}