I have a mass of statistics here, but I am afraid of them because I was never able to do much with that rugged study, mathematics. I can only figure on the multiplication table up to seven times nine, which is - 84. This quote by American humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain: 1835 - 1910) is reported in "The New York Times" on March 30, 1906 as part of a speech Twain gave at a fundraising effort for the New York State Association for Promoting the Interests of the Blind.
The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning is a quote by American evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941 - 2002). The quote is found in Gould's book "The Mismeasure of Man" ( 2nd edition, p.242, W.W. Norton Publishing, 1996).
Evidence, which we have means to strengthen for or against a proposition, is our proper means for attaining truth. is a quote by British nursing pioneer and statistician Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910). The quote appears in her book "Suggestions for Thought to the Searchers After Truth Among the Artizans of England" (page 58, Eyre and Spottiswoode).
The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment is a quote by British writer Celia Green (1935 - ) from her book "The Decline and Fall of Science" (Hamilton Ltd., 1976). The quote also appears in "Statistically Speaking: A dictionary of quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither.
Probability is expectation founded upon partial knowledge. is a quote by George Boole (1815 - 1864) - the English logician and philosopher for whom Boolean logic is named. The quote is found in chapter 16 of his 1853 book "An Investigation of the Laws of Thought". The book can be found on-line through the Gutenberg project at www.gutenberg.org/etext/15114.
Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity. is a quote by ancient Greek philosopher Democritus (460 B.C.E. - 360 B.C.E.).
The errors which arise from the absence of facts are far more numerous and more durable than those which result from unsound reasoning respecting true data. is a quote by English Mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage (1791 - 1871). The quote is found on page 119 of his book "On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures" (1832)
I think the essential thing if you want to be a good statistician, as opposed to being a mathematician, is to talk to people and find out what they're doing and why they're doing it. is a quote from Florence Nightingale David (1909 - 1993). The quote appears at the end of an interview published in "Statistical Science" in 1989 (p. 235-246) in response to a question from Nan Laird asking for advice for practicing statisticians.
This joke can be used to motivate class discussions on the assumptions underlying drawing conclusions from data (especially the assumption of stationarity). The joke is a revision of a story in "The Angel's Dictionary: A modern tribute to Ambrose Bierce" by Edmund Volkart - also quoted in "Statistically Speaking: A dictionary of Quotations" by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither (page 62). The revision (to make the story suitable for classroom use) was written by Dennis Pearl, The Ohio State University.