Great minds think alike.
– Carl Theodor von Unlanski
What does this phrase mean?
The phrase emphasizes similarity when someone shares your ideas, opinions, or choices. The phrase is often used humorously when people discover that someone else has the same idea.
This expression can also be used sarcastically when two individuals are caught copying one another.
Origin of this phrase
According to phrases.org.uk, the following exact phrase is from Carl Theodor von Unlanski’s biography The woful history of the unfortunate Eudoxia, 1816:
It may occur that an editor has already printed something on the identical subject – great minds think alike, you know.
Examples:
- I must say that both of you are geniuses since your essays are written in the same way. As the saying goes, “Great minds think alike.“
- Both of us reached the same conclusion. There is no doubt that great minds think alike.
- When great minds think alike, they often express the same idea simultaneously.
- Both of us share so many similarities, and often, we make similar choices. In other words, great minds think alike.
