“The selective winnowing of time leaves only a few recognizable individuals behind for the historian to light on. Thus the historian who finds the human being more interesting than what the human being has done must inevitably endow the comparatively few individuals he can identify with too great an importance in relation to their time. Even so, I prefer this overestimate to the opposite method which treats developments as though they were the massive anonymous waves of an unhuman sea or pulverizes the fallible surviving records of human life into the grey dust of statistics.” HumansDoneLightIndividualHuman BeingsInterestingBehindsHistoryRecordsSeaDevelopmentOppositesTreatsImportanceRelationMethodWaveDustHuman LifeStatisticsMassiveHistorianGreySurvivingSelectiveOverestimate Author:C. V. Wedgwood
“Those who are guilty of the argumentum ad ignorantiam profess belief in something because its opposite cannot be proved ... In the realm where "prejudice" is now most an issue, it normally takes a form like this: you cannot prove by the method of statistics and quantitative measurement that men are not equal. Therefore all men are equal. ... You cannot prove again by the methods of science that one culture is higher than another. Therefore the culture of the Digger Indians is just a good as that of Muncie, Indiana, or thirteenth-century France.” MenFormCultureBeliefIssuesCenturyHigherProveEqualOppositesPrejudiceMethodGuiltyFranceRealmsStatisticsAdsMeasurementIndiana Author:Richard M. Weaver
“Some people hate the very name of statistics, but I find them full of beauty and interest. Whenever they are not brutalized, but delicately handled by the higher methods, and are warily interpreted, their power of dealing with complicated phenomena is extraordinary. They are the only tools by which an opening can be cut through the formidable thicket of difficulties that bars the path of those who pursue the Science of Man.” PeopleMenHateNamesInterestPathCuttingHigherToolsDifficultyMethodExtraordinaryComplicatedBarsOpeningPursueStatisticsFormidableThickets Author:Francis Galton
“This is not a dictatorship, this is based upon scientific evidence to support a given project. If you want to put up a building, say half a mile high, the material has to be available. Using statistics is not a dictatorship. It's a method of getting the most from existing resources.” IfsWantGivenHalfSupportBuildingMaterialsProjectsEvidenceResourcesMethodAvailableMilesStatisticsDictatorshipScientific Evidence Author:Jacque Fresco
“Among the current discussions, the impact of new and sophisticated methods in the study of the past occupies an important place. The new 'scientific' or 'cliometric' history-born of the marriage contracted between historical problems and advanced statistical analysis, with economic theory as bridesmaid and the computer as best man-has made tremendous advances in the last generation.” MenMadeImportantProblemLastsPastScienceBornStudyGenerationsEconomicTheoryComputerEconomicsMethodImpactHistoricalCurrentsDiscussionAnalysisStatisticsSophisticatedEconomic TheoryBridesmaids Book:Which Road to the Past?: Two Views of History Source: Which Road to the Past?: Two Views of History
“Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death.” ScienceVictoryMethodMathematicalTriumphStatisticsObjectivitySubjectivityStatistician Author:Hilaire Belloc
“To me, the main weakness of EDA is its failure to enquire why the data were collected in the first place and its consequent tendency to apply ingenious methods largely because they are so attractively ingenious.” FirstsWeaknessMethodTendenciesDataStatisticsIngenious Author:Michael Healy
“I will listen to any hypothesis but on one condition-that you show me a method by which it can be tested.” ShowsConditionsMethodStatisticsShow MeTestedHypothesis Author:August Wilhelm von Hofmann
“Statistics is the branch of scientific method which deals with the data obtained by counting or measuring the properties of populations of natural phenomena.” NaturalDealsMethodPropertyPopulationDataBranchesStatisticsCountingMeasuringScientific MethodNatural Phenomena Book:The Advanced Theory of Statistics: Distribution theory Source: The Advanced Theory of Statistics: Distribution theory