Lies, damned lies revisited.

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#3585

From: Allan Reese
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1992 11:24

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Good news, I found my copy of the excellent booklet "Quotes, Damned
Quotes, and ...".

Bad news, I then contacted John Bibby, who compiled it, and found it is
not in print so you can't buy it at the moment. I encouraged him to
compile the next edition, so if anyone has any quotable references to
statistics (funny or scurilous will be best), send them to

John Bibby, 1 Straylands Grove, York YO3 0EB, UK

John also sells statistics-related books.

So, JB's account of "Lies, damned lies, ..." is that it is probably
not due to Disraeli, but is found in the Royal Statistical Society
Journal (1896 vol 59 p87) where Goschen (the President) attributes it
to a "wise statesman". JB then quotes Sir Edward Cook's Life of
Florence Nightingale "... and there are sceptics who have substituted
'statistics' for 'expert witnesses' in the well-known saying about
classes of false statements". One interpretation is that

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics"

was originally

"Lies, damned lies, and expert witnesses"

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Date:         Tue, 28 Jan 1992 11:24:11 WET
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From:         Allan Reese <R.A.Reese@SEQ.HULL.AC.UK>
Subject:      Lies, damned lies revisited.