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JUPITERASC

JUPITERASC

Well-known member
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JUPITERASC

JUPITERASC

Well-known member
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Tibet ~ Humanitarian
བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས
Tashi Delek❣️
ॐ मणिपद्मे हूँ ❣
 Om Mani Padme Hum


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JUPITERASC

JUPITERASC

Well-known member
'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics'?
 This quotation is often attributed to Benjamin Disraeli 19th century British Prime Minister.
The source for this view is the autobiography of Mark Twain
where he makes that attribution.
Nevertheless, no version of this quotation has been found in any of Disraeli's published works or letters.
An early reference to the expression, which may explain Twain's assertion
is found in a speech made by Leonard H. Courtney 1832-1918 later Lord Courtney, in New York in 1895:
'After all, facts are facts, and although we may quote one to another
with a chuckle the words of the Wise Statesman, "Lies - **** lies - and statistics,"
still there are some easy figures the simplest must understand
and the astutest cannot wriggle out of.’
​
There's no indication that by 'Wise Statesman' Courtney was referring to any specific person
although it may be that Twain thought that he meant Disraeli.

The earliest citation known of the current usage of the phrase
"there are three kinds of falsehoods, lies, damned lies and statistics"
is from Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour
as quoted in the Manchester Guardian, 29 June 1892:
“Professor [Joseph] Munro reminded him of an old saying
which he rather reluctantly proposed, in that company, to repeat.
It was to the effect that there were three gradations of inveracity
- there were lies, there were d-d lies, and there were statistics."
​
It is quite possible that earlier examples may be found in print.
There are certainly numerous earlier examples
that approximate to the phrase

- "a fib, a lie and statistics" 1891
"simple liars, damned liars and experts" 1885
There are several other examples from the 1880s and 1890s of different wordings

of what is the same thought, that is, the distrust of misleadingly interpreted statistical data.

In 1885, Leonard Huxley, published The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley
a memoir of his distinguished zoologist father.
Included in this is T. H. Huxley's account of a meeting of the X Club
which was a gathering of eminent thinkers who aimed to advance the cause of science
especially Darwinism:
"Talked politics, scandal, and the three classes of witnesses - liars, d-d liars, and experts.”
​
The same idea was also current in the USA around the same date.
The New Albany Daily Ledger printed this opinion in July 1887:
The total value of the entire agricultural crop for 1886 is given at $219,531... There is nothing lies like statistics.
​
As more printed material from the late 19th century becomes digitally available :smile:
there's little doubt that the dates above will be pushed backwards.
As things stand, the earliest example of the phrase comes from Balfour in 1892.
 
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