"A statistical analysis, properly conducted, is a delicate dissection of uncertainties, a surgery of suppositions." (Michael J Moroney, "Facts from Figures", 1951)
"Historically, Statistics is no more than State Arithmetic, a system of computation by which differences between individuals are eliminated by the taking of an average. It has been used - indeed, still is used - to enable rulers to know just how far they may safely go in picking the pockets of their subjects." (Michael J Moroney, "Facts from Figures", 1951)
"If you are young, then I say: Learn something about statistics as soon as you can. Don’t dismiss it through ignorance or because it calls for thought. [...] If you are older and already crowned with the laurels of success, see to it that those under your wing who look to you for advice are encouraged to look into this subject. In this way you will show that your arteries are not yet hardened, and you will be able to reap the benefits without doing overmuch work yourself. Whoever you are, if your work calls for the interpretation of data, you may be able to do without statistics, but you won’t do as well." (Michael J Moroney, "Facts from Figures", 1951)
"Statistics is not the easiest subject to teach, and there are those to whom anything savoring of mathematics is regarded as for ever anathema." (Michael J Moroney, "Facts from Figures", 1951)
"The statistician’s job is to draw general conclusions from fragmentary data. Too often the data supplied to him for analysis are not only fragmentary but positively incoherent, so that he can do next to nothing with them. Even the most kindly statistician swears heartily under his breath whenever this happens." (Michael J Moroney, "Facts from Figures", 1951)
"There is more than a germ of truth in the suggestion that, in all society where statisticians thrive, liberty and individuality are likely to be emasculated." (Michael J Moroney, "Facts from Figures", 1951)
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