The More Things Change…. Authorities usually offer specifics when asked about origins of expressions. “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” however, is not one of them. Attempts to pinpoint its first use are baffling to some and invite “waffling” for others. Most linguists agree that the idiom began as a French expression in the mid-19th century. Hardliners maintain that its genesis is biblical, birthed by the scripture about “nothing ...