Quote: David on what makes a good statistician

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.