The Definition of Insanity / Did I Ever Tell You The Definition of Insanity?

Submission 101,379

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About

The Definition of Insanity refers to a memorable quote uttered by Vaas Montenegro, one of the primary antagonists from the video game Far Cry 3. The quote is often used online as an allegory for repetitive events or actions, particularly in politics and media franchises.

Origin

The quote is heard during a cutscene in Far Cry 3 in which the protagonist, Jason Brody, is kidnapped by Vaas Montenegro's troops and is due for execution by drowning (shown below).^[1]

Before Jason was thrown into a river while tied to a rock, Vaas gives a speech to Jason featuring the quote, which in itself is an alteration of a definition of insanity as provided by Albert Einstein,^[6] which states: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exact… same fucking thing… over and over again, expecting… shit to change.

View Full Speech
That… is crazy; but the first time somebody told me that…I dunno, I thought they were bullshitting me, so boom – I shot him. The thing is, okay… He was right. And then I started seeing: everywhere I looked, everywhere I looked, all these fucking pricks, everywhere I looked, doing the exact same fucking thing… over and over and over and over again thinking: "This time, it's gonna be different; no, no, no, no, no, please… This time it's gonna be different." …I am sorry, I don't like the way you are looking at me… Okay, do you have a fucking problem in your head? Do you think I am bullshitting you? Do you think I am lying? Fuck you! Okay? FUCK. YOU! It's okay, man. I'm gonna chill, hermano. I'm gonna chill… The thing is… alright, the thing is: I killed you once already… and it's not like I am fucking crazy. It's okay… It's like water under the bridge. Did I ever tell you the definition… of insanity?

Spread

On December 30th, 2012, a definition for the term was submitted to Urban Dictionary by a user called Vaas Montenegro, with the definition referring to the quote from the game.^[2] There are various results for the tag "The Definition of Insanity" on Tumblr,^[3] alongside many posts on 4chan's /v/ quoting the phrase^[4] as well as also being posted multiple times on other 4chan boards.^[5] There are also various re-uploads of the cutscene where the quote originated from, as well as videos related to the quote.^[7]