# Quotes about statistics - Quotes: 8 - Authors: 4 - Broader topic: [Quotes about mathematics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mathematics.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics - JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.json ## Quotes > No data is preferable to poor data. [Robert L. Forward](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-l-forward.md) · [Dragon's Egg](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-l-forward/dragons-egg.md) · p. 26 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-l-forward/dragons-egg/no-data-is-preferable.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [statistics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.md) > One can and should debate whether the tests in question are appropriate for the purposes at hand, but one shouldn’t be surprised when normal curves behave normally. [John Allen Paulos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos.md) · [A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper.md) · p. 61 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper/one-can-and.md) Topics: [statistics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.md) > In general, any differences between two groups will always be greatly accentuated at the extremes. [John Allen Paulos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos.md) · [A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper.md) · p. 60 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper/in-general-any.md) Topics: [statistics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.md) > Correlation and causation are two quite different words, and the innumerate are more prone to mistake them than most. [John Allen Paulos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos.md) · [Innumeracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/innumeracy.md) · p. 159 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/innumeracy/correlation-and-causation.md) Topics: [logic](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/logic.md), [statistics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.md) > Innumerate people characteristically have a strong tendency to personalize—to be misled by their own experiences, or by the media’s focus on individuals and drama. [John Allen Paulos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos.md) · [Innumeracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/innumeracy.md) · p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/innumeracy/innumerate-people-characteristically.md) Topics: [media](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/media.md), [experience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience.md), [statistics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.md) > A tendency to drastically underestimate the frequency of coincidences is a prime characteristic of innumerates, who generally accord great significance to correspondences of all sorts while attributing too little significance to quite conclusive but less flashy statistical evidence. [John Allen Paulos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos.md) · [Innumeracy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/innumeracy.md) · p. 35 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/innumeracy/a-tendency-to-drastically.md) Topics: [chance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance.md), [statistics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.md) > There is a deep gap between our thinking about statistics and our thinking about individual cases. [Daniel Kahneman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-kahneman.md) · [Thinking, Fast and Slow](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-kahneman/thinking-fast-and-slow.md) · p. 174 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-kahneman/thinking-fast-and-slow/there-is-a-deep.md) Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [statistics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.md) > Any theory based on experience is necessarily statistical; that is to say, it formulates an ideal average which abolishes all exceptions at either end of the scale and replaces them by an abstract mean. This mean is quite valid though it need not necessarily occur in reality. Despite this it figures in the theory as an unassailable fundamental fact. ... If, for instance, I determine the weight of each stone in a bed of pebbles and get an average weight of 145 grams, this tells me very little about the real nature of the pebbles. Anyone who thought, on the basis of these findings, that he could pick up a pebbles of 145 grams at the first try would be in for a serious disappointment. Indeed, it might well happen that however long he searched he would not find a single pebble weighing exactly 145 grams. The statistical method shows the facts in the light of the ideal average but does not give us a picture of their empirical reality. While reflecting an indisputable aspect of reality, it can falsify the actual truth in a most misleading way. [Carl Jung](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung.md) · [The Undiscovered Self](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/the-undiscovered-self.md) · p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/the-undiscovered-self/any-theory-based.md) Topics: [reality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reality.md), [statistics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/statistics.md)