Quotes

"Statistical social science, he believes, is unmanly."--Harvard Professor Harvey Mansfield, Jr., according to Christopher Shea, Boston Globe, 12 March 2006 .

"Before the curse of statistics fell upon mankind we lived a happy, innocent life, full of merriment and go, and informed by fairly good judgment."--Hilaire Belloc, On Statistics.

"Nor will the historian worship at the shrine of that Bitch-goddess, QUANTIFICATION"--Carl Bridenbaugh, American Historical Review, 1963

"...statistics are the most fascinating of all pursuits. If you have any ulterior object, political or otherwise, you may find them dry, tedious, and unsatisfactory. But if you love Science for her own sake, she will return your affection, and invest your studies with a charm unknown to the votaries of wealth, pleasure, or ambition." --Michael Mulhall, Contemporary Review, 1890

"Let us remember the unfortunate econometrician who, in one of the major functions of his system, had to use a proxy for risk and a dummy for sex."--Fritz Machlup, Journal of Political Economy, 1974

"nothing between human beings is more than three to one." Attributed to Damon Runyon by Robert Solow, American Economic Review, 1985