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Lies, damned lies, and statistics

 

 
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Lies, damned lies, and statistics
 
 
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"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularised in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 by Mark Twain
Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." The statement refers to the persuasive power of number
Number

A number is a mathematical object used in counting and measurement. A notational symbol which represents a number is called a Numeral system, but in common usage the word number is used for both the abstract object and the symbol, as well as for the numeral for the number....
s, the use of statistics
Statistics

Statistics is a Mathematics pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It also provides tools for prediction and forecasting based on data....
 to bolster weak argument
Argument

* In logic, an Argument is a set of one or more meaningful declarative sentences known as the premises along with another meaningful declarative sentence known as the conclusion....
s, and the tendency of people to disparage statistics that do not support their positions.

n popularised the saying in "Chapters from My Autobiography", published in the North American Review, No.






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"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularised in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 by Mark Twain
Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." The statement refers to the persuasive power of number
Number

A number is a mathematical object used in counting and measurement. A notational symbol which represents a number is called a Numeral system, but in common usage the word number is used for both the abstract object and the symbol, as well as for the numeral for the number....
s, the use of statistics
Statistics

Statistics is a Mathematics pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It also provides tools for prediction and forecasting based on data....
 to bolster weak argument
Argument

* In logic, an Argument is a set of one or more meaningful declarative sentences known as the premises along with another meaningful declarative sentence known as the conclusion....
s, and the tendency of people to disparage statistics that do not support their positions.

History

Twain popularised the saying in "Chapters from My Autobiography", published in the North American Review, No. DCXVIII., July 5, 1907. "Figures often beguile me," he wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'"

Alternative attributions include the radical
Radicalism (historical)

The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later become a general term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order....
 journalist
Journalist

A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that aren't biased....
 and politician
Politician

A politician is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of politics or a person who influences the way a society is governed....
 Henry Du Pré Labouchère
Henry Labouchere

Henry Du Pr? Labouch?re was a prominent English people politician, writer, publisher and theatre owner in the Victorian era and Edwardian era....
 (1831-1912), and Leonard H. Courtney
Leonard Courtney, 1st Baron Courtney of Penwith

Leonard Henry Courtney, 1st Baron Courtney of Penwith Privy Council of the United Kingdom was a United Kingdom politician and man of letters, eldest son of JS Courtney, a banker, was born at Penzance....
, who used the phrase in 1895 and two years later became president of the Royal Statistical Society
Royal Statistical Society

The Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London....
. There is some doubt, however, as to what Courtney intended the phrase to mean.

Recently, attention has been drawn to a use of the phrase in 1892 by Cornelia Augusta Hewitt Crosse (1827-1895). In 1894, a doctor by the name of M. Price read a paper to the Philadelphia County Medical Society in which he referred to "the proverbial kinds of falsehoods, 'lies, damned lies, and statistics.'" The fact that he referred to the phrase as "proverbial" seems to imply that it was familiar at that time.

The phrase has also been attributed to (William) Abraham Hewitt (1875-1966) and Commander Holloway Halstead Frost
Holloway Halstead Frost

Holloway Halstead Frost , born in Brooklyn, New York,was an American World War I Navy officer and Navy Cross recipient....
 (1889-1935). If the phrase was indeed current by 1892, however, Frost may be eliminated and Hewitt must be very unlikely indeed.

Uses

The phrase has been used in a number of popular expositions, including:
  • Quotes, Damned Quotes ..... some of them to do with statistics (1985
    1985 in literature

    The year 1985 in literature involved some significant events and new books....
    ), by John Bibby - an attempt to untangle the history of this quotation.
  • Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists (2001
    2001 in literature

    The year 2001 in literature involved some significant events and new books....
    ), by University of Delaware
    University of Delaware

    The University of Delaware is the largest university in the U.S. state of Delaware. The main campus is located in Newark, Delaware, with satellite campuses in Dover, Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware, Lewes, Delaware and Georgetown, Delaware....
     sociologist
    Sociology

    Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that uses systematic methods of Empiricism and critical theory to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare....
     Joel Best.
  • How to Lie with Statistics
    How to Lie with Statistics

    How to Lie with Statistics is a book written by Darrell Huff in 1954 presenting an introduction to statistics for the general reader. It is a brief, breezy, illustrated volume outlining common errors, both intentional and unintentional, associated with the interpretation of statistics, and how these errors can lead to inaccurate conclus...
     (1954
    1954 in literature

    The year 1954 in literature involved some significant events and new books....
    ) by Darrell Huff
    Darrell Huff

    Darrell Huff was an United Statesn writer, and is best known as the author of How to Lie with Statistics , the best-selling statistics book of the second half of the twentieth century....
    .
  • The essay The Median Isn't the Message by Stephen Jay Gould
    Stephen Jay Gould

    Stephen Jay Gould was a prominent American Paleontology, Evolution, and History of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
     begins by repeating this quote. Gould explains how the statistic that mesothelioma
    Mesothelioma

    Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos. In this disease, malignant Cell develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body's internal organs....
    , the form of cancer
    Cancer

    Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
     with which he was diagnosed in 1982, has a "median survival time of eight months" is misleading.
  • A first-season episode of the American television series The West Wing was titled "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics
    Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

    "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics" is the 21st episode of The West Wing . The title comes from Lies, damned lies, and statistics, frequently attributed to Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli of Great Britain or to Mark Twain, the American author and humorist: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."...
    ."