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Mark Twain
1835–1910
American writer and satirist (Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer).
What they got right
He used humour to puncture humbug, hypocrisy and the way numbers can be arranged to mislead, including by himself.
Skill it shows
Numbers and chance
Practise this skillAlso: Cognitive biases
Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'
Worth knowing
He is probably the most misquoted person in English. He credited the 'lies, damned lies' line to Disraeli, but no source for it has been found in Disraeli's work either. 'It ain't what you don't know…' is not his.
Try it yourself
Find one statistic you've shared or believed. Who arranged it, and what might they have wanted it to show?