“Politicians use statistics in the same way that a drunk uses lamp-posts—for support rather than illumination.”
1910 Speech, quoted in Alan L. Mackay The Harvest of a Quiet Eye (1977), as reported in Chambers Dictionary of Quotations (2005), p. 488.
Widely attributed to Lang (e.g. in Elizabeth M. Knowles, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Oxford University Press; and in Robert Andrews, The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Columbia University Press).
Variant: He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp posts—for support rather than illumination.
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Andrew Lang 10
Scots poet, novelist and literary critic 1844–1912Related quotes
“Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.”
Actually said by Andrew Lang, in a 1910 speech: "Politicians use statistics in the same way that a drunk uses lamp-posts—for support rather than illumination", as quoted in Alan L. Mackay, The Harvest of a Quiet Eye (1977), and reported in Chambers Dictionary of Quotations (2005), p. 488.
Misattributed
“We are all such a waste of our potential, like three-way lamps using one-way bulbs.”
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Unclassified
“When the oil of the lamp is used up the wanker shall light his own way to salvation.”
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (2002)
“Written kisses don't reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts.”
Source: Letters to Milena
Source: A Dictionary of Thoughts, 1891, p. 545; also reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 203.
More Worlds Than One: The Creed of the Philosopher and the Hope of the Christian (1856), p. 207
“The politician has no more use for pride than Falstaff had for honour.”
Source: In Defence Of Politics (Second Edition) – 1981, Chapter 7, In Praise Of Politics, p. 159.
New York City (p. 284).
States of Desire: Travels in Gay America (1980)
