One that comes to mind for me: "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is not always true. Maybe even only half the time! Are there any phrases you tend to hear and shake your head at?
this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," It's like nails on a chalkboard every time I hear it. There is a very limited context where it may be applicable, but mostly it's used to give up trying or mock someone for failing a task. Have you never gotten better at something over time? Learned an instrument? Played a hard video game? Learned to ride a bike? It stops problem solving dead and kills motivation making it less than useless. Oh and its misattributed to Einstein like every other shitty quote
Same here. I thing it was a quote from a book or a movie. Some punchline that some character made sound funny and witty at a time but so many people insist to use it a the actual definition of insanity!
And very much the opposite of how many good things came to be - for example, inventors typically invent things with many failures first. Not 100% sure this is Thomas Edison but a quote attributed to him goes "I didn’t fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps."
This is the direct opposite of the saying.
If you try 1000 different combinations of bulb design you are not doing the same thing over and over again. It would be insane to attempt to make a light bulb 1000 times out of the same exact material and design and expect a different outcome.
The entire point of the saying is learn from your failures. Make adjustments. Try something slightly different.
Yes, I think what you wrote is the point. But when he was actively inventing it and was trying it for the 900th time (with variance), I feel like that's exactly when someone would call that insanity. Because, to the outside world, it looks like he's just trying this thing over and over and expecting to make the light bulb happen, but it looks crazy to everyone else.
I was trying to point out that there may be more nuance going on than someone simply doing something over and over and expecting different results.