repeat oneself

1. Express oneself in the same way or with the same words, as in Grandma forgets she has told us this story before and repeats herself over and over, or This architect tends to repeat himself—all his houses look alike. A well-known version of this idiom is the proverb History repeats itself, first recorded (in English) in 1561. For example, Her mother also married when she was 18—history repeats itself. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

An actor’s desire not to repeat oneself is understandable, especially when she is as closely associated with a previous role as Parker is with Bradshaw, but there has got to be a better way to do something new than to suppress most of one’s native charisma.

From Slate

To say more about the nest of the summer Resin-bee would be to repeat oneself.

From Project Gutenberg

To enlarge on this interesting subject would mean to repeat oneself.

From Project Gutenberg

To the same person one is bound, more or less, to repeat oneself.”

From Project Gutenberg