evidence: By Alfred EisenstaedtLIFE Photo Collection [...] According to a large number of inspirational mugs and posters, this famous quote comes from none other than Albert Einstein. However, there’s no evidence at all that Einstein ever said it. And in fact, he wasn’t associated with the phrase until the 80s, decades after his death. Do you know who the real wordsmith was? [...] Civil rights campaigner and feminist writer Rita Mae Brown is the real author of the phrase. In her 1983 book Sudden Death, Brown attributes the quote to a fictional ‘Jane Fulton’. However, the idea of a link between repetition and insanity can be traced back to the 19th century.