“Statistics began as the systematic study of quantitative facts about the state.”
Source: The Emergence Of Probability, 1975, Chapter 12, Political Arithmetic, p. 102.
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Ian Hacking 16
Canadian philosopher 1936Related quotes

Accordingly, the quantitative study of economic phenomena here considered may be termed econometrics.
Frisch (1927) as quoted in Divisia 1953, pp.24-25; Cited in: Bjerkholt, Olav. " Ragnar Frisch and the foundation of the Econometric Society and Econometrica http://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/doc/doc_199509.pdf." ECONOMETRIC SOCIETY MONOGRAPHS 31 (1998): 26-57.
Lead paragraph of a memorandum on the importance of establishing the journal "Oekonometrika"
1920

Michael Friendly. " A brief history of data visualization http://www.datavis.ca/papers/hbook.pdf at datavis.ca, March 21, 2006.

Frisch (1927). as quoted in: Bjerkholt, Olav, and Duo Qin. A Dynamic Approach to Economic Theory: The Yale Lectures of Ragnar Frisch. Routledge, 2010: About "Oekonometrika"
1920

The Education of Henry Adams (1907)

“Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.”

“To understand God's thoughts we must study statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose.”
As quoted in Chance Rules : An Informal Guide to Probability, Risk, and Statistics (1999) by Brian Everitt, p. 137

"Quotes", Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (1957), Polemical Introduction

from "Cardinal Ratzinger Sees a Media Campaign Against Church," Zenit.org, December 3, 2002
2002

1890s, The Path of the Law (1897)