George Canning Quotes
I can prove anything by statistics except the truth.
George Canning, 1770-1827, British Prime Minister (Tory), Quoted in Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1908
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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.
The mathematics of modern statistical analysis are excellent, but there are many ways to end up with invalid results by making important errors in gathering the numbers which are then used to calculate the statistics. Often the sample is inadvertently or intentionally biased. Sometimes it is incomplete. Very frequently, the measures do not measure well what someone says they do measure. There are many other ways to mess up a statistical analysis, and is it those critical processes details that Gomez Hurtado tells us all to be worried about. He uses the analogy of blood sausage, which tastes delicious can be made with unsavory and unhealthy ingredients sometimes, and even when made right is a bit shocking to most people to watch the process.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
Second to Benjamin Franklin, Rush was the only other real scientist of the American colonial era.
George Canning FRS was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from April to August 1827. He occupied various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, finally becoming Prime Minister for the last 118 days of his life.
