Statistics Quotes
There is no known writing of Disraeli's with this quote although it is very commonly attributed to him as in this case by Mark Twain. Disraeli was even quoted earlier in 1895 by English Parliamentarian Leonard H. Courtney who said, “…the words of the Wise Statesman, "Lies— damned lies— and statistics," and although he does not mention Disraeli by name, the “Wise Statesman” was a name commonly used for the great prime minister and the timing was right. The two together make the quotation very probably attributable to Disraeli. See linked quote.
{627488} is an earlier quotation by a French Diplomat of very similar sentiment, but it is not known if Stalin had ever seen it. Also See Beilby Porteus {627489} for an 18th century variation. This is a puzzling phenomenon. In the United States if there is a plane crash and a hundred people are killed, it is page one and television lead news. But between 40,000 and 50,000 Americans die each year, one or two at a time in auto crashes, and it does not seem to be news. More American college students commit suicide (about 1200 a year) then are killed in mining or other industrial accidents, but the former we rarely hear about.
This is the earliest version of this idea which was made famous with a statistical reference by Stalin speaking to Churchill {616657}. Also a French diplomat preceded Stalin {627488} .
There is a great tendency in politics and government operations to get extremely precise numbers because political opponents will always attack all numbers that do not support their positions. The result is that typically, so much time and money goes into trying to get precision, that by the time the numbers are good enough the opportunity to make the right policy decision will have passed. Much information that bears on an issue is never used because it is not precise enough while the precise information is not particularly relevant. See {619763} for a similar related quote.
Often attributed to Mark Twain, he acknowledged Benjamin Disraeli (former UK Premier) as the source. See linked quote.
In governmental programs typically administrators, evaluators and often the media measure what is easiest to measure and use that to assess the benefit of the program or initiative. See {63458}.
Politicians, like many other people, often confuse correlation with causality as few have studied or understand the mathematics of probability.
Political polls are very important tools in modern politics. However, they can be, and often are, inaccurate. More often they are misinterpreted, and results can vary extensively depending on how a question is worded. For example, in the 2012 Presidential election Republican Mitt Romney’s polls did not tell him that he would lose by a substantial margin. He, and some of this closest staff, thought they would actually win.
