Some quotes and proverbs about statistics.
Showing results 1 to 42 of 42
92.3 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.(unknown author)
Accidents will happen.
All models are wrong, some are useful.George Box
All models are wrong.George Box
Beware of facts that use the term "majority" — get a precise percentage.Hans Rosling
Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.Larry Lorenzoni
Cognitive psychology tells us that the unaided human mind is vulnerable to many fallacies and illusions because of its reliance on its memory for vivid anecdotes rather than systematic statistics.Steven Pinker
Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things.Richard Dawkins
Democracy is an abuse of statistics.Jorge Luis Borges
Good to know that when I die everybody's IQ will go up.Minkukel
Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 73 percent of all accidents involving falling objects.Dave Barry
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.J.R.R. Tolkien
Source: The Fellowship of the Ring
Quoted: Bilbo
I would rather have an average weight or an average income than an average intelligence.Minkukel
If your experiment needs a statistician, you need a better experiment.Ernest Rutherford
Isn't keeping statistics on violence a form of violence?Steven Pinker
Source: Enlightenment Now
It is generally recognized that women are better than men at languages, personal relations and multitasking, but less good at map-reading and spatial awareness. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that women might be less good at mathematics and physics. It is not politically correct to say such things. ... But it cannot be denied that there are differences between men and women. Of course, these are differences between the averages only. There are wide variations about the mean.Stephen Hawking
It's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.(unknown author)
Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!George Carlin
Never believe that one number on its own can be meaningful.Hans Rosling
Source: Factfulness
Nine out of ten women love chocolate. The tenth is lying.(unknown author)
Normal is the wrong name often used for average.Henry S. Haskins
Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be 'too clever by half.' The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.John Major
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.Aristotle
Remember your math: an anecdote is not a trend.Steven Pinker
Source: Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate.Sandra Boynton
Slow change is not no change.Hans Rosling
Source: Factfulness
Smoking is one of the leading causes of all statistics.Liza Minnelli
Statistics is the art of lying by means of figures.Wilhelm Stekel
Statistics may be defined as "a body of methods for making wise decisions in the face of uncertainty."W.A. Wallis
Statistics: The science of producing unreliable facts from reliable figures.Evan Esar
The amount of sleep required by the average person is about half an hour more.Evan Esar
The average human has one breast and one testicle.Des McHale
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.Richard P. Feynman
The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity.Voltaire
Then there is the man who drowned crossing a stream with an average depth of six inches.W.I.E. Gates
There are three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.(unknown author)
There is no way that we can predict the weather six months ahead beyond giving the seasonal average.Stephen Hawking
There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.Susan Cain
Things can be both bad and better.Hans Rosling
Torture numbers, and they'll confess to anything.Gregg Easterbrook
Two wrongs don't make a right.It is wrong to harm someone because they have harmed you.
We are always at the beginning of infinity.David Deutsch
