IdeaBank : Free Samples : Statistics

Statistics—samples from our database

From the Anecdotes/Excerpts file of IdeaBank

A statistician is someone who is good with figures but who doesn't have the personality to become an accountant.

Keywords: accounting, humor, joke, profession, statistics

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

The science of statistics is the chief instrumentality through which the progress of civilization is now measured and by which its development hereafter will be largely controlled.

Daniel J. Boorstin (1914- )
American historian and former Librarian of Congress
The Decline of Radicalism, Chapter I

Keywords: census, crime, demography, environment, government, governing, polls, polling, statistics

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

... no nation ranks higher in its collective passion for statistics. In Japan, statistics are the subject of holidays, local and national conventions, award ceremonies and nationwide statistical collection and graph-drawing contests.

Andrew H. Malcolm (1943- )
American journalist, New York Times
Data-Loving Japanese Rejoice on Statistics Day
October 26, 1977, A-1

Keywords: Japann culture, Japanese, love of numbers, mathematics, quantify, statistics

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

Learn to make numbers talk! The will speak to you about hard truths and also reveal the future!

John D Rockefeller (1839-1937)
American businessman and philanthropist

Keywords: accounting, business, executive, financial statement, managing, measurements, numerical analysis, scientific management, statistics, strategy

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

A demographer is someone who explains how you can have a thousand people at a cocktail party in a telephone booth if nobody stays too long.

Anonymous

Keywords: averages, consultant, expert, humor, joke, market research, mathematics, rationalization, statistics

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

Statistics are like bikinis; they reveal a good deal that is both interesting and instructive, but they usually conceal what is really vital.

Anonymous

Keywords: focus panels, humor, joke, market research, public opinion, numerical analysis

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts -- for support rather than for illumination.

Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
Scottish poet, folklorist, biographer, translator, novelist, and scholar

Keywords: advertising, argue, careless, debate, humor, joke, market research, numbers, persuasion, polls, presentations, public opinion, public relations, selling, speaking, use of quotations

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

Round numbers are always false.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
English writer, lexicographer, critic and conversationalist

Keywords: accountant, accountants, accounting, arithmetic, bookkeeper, bookkeeping, economics, economists, humor, joke, market research, mathematics, measurements, planning, science, statistics

From the Humor file of IdeaBank

The danger of extrapolation. Most futurists use straight-line projections of today's data to paint a picture of tomorrow. My favorite illustration of this is the recent statement that if George Steinbrenner continues to behave as he has in the past, 70 percent of the male population of New York will have managed the Yankees by the year 2020.

Keywords: baseball, danger of forecasting, future, humor, joke, prediction, sports, statistics

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
English politician and author
attributed to him by Mark Twain
in his autobiography, 1924

Keywords: bias, honesty, humor, joke, market research, measurement, numbers, public opinion, research, truth, truth