Statistics: the mathematical theory of ignorance.

“I have my own theory: ignorance is bliss. The less you know, the more confident you can be in tackling things.”

— Stephen Richards

Human life is proverbially uncertain; few things are more certain than the solvency of a life-insurance company.

— Arthur Eddington

The mathematician requires tact and good taste at every step of his work, and he has to learn to trust to his own instinct…

— James Whitbread Lee Glaisher

There can be no question, however, that prolonged commitment to mathematical exercises in economics can be damaging. It leads to the atrophy of judgement…

— John Kenneth Galbraith

It is the first duty of a hypothesis to be intelligible.

— Thomas Huxley

To Thales the primary question was not what do we know, but how do we know it.

— Aristotle

In my experience most mathematicians are intellectually lazy and especially dislike reading experimental papers. He seemed to have very strong biological intuitions but unfortunately…

— Francis Crick

It has been pointed out already that no knowledge of probabilities, less in degree than certainty, helps us to know what conclusions are true,…

— John Maynard Keynes

The tantalizing and compelling pursuit of mathematical problems offers mental absorption, peace of mind amid endless challenges, repose in activity, battle without conflict, refuge…

— Morris Kline

Universities hire professors the way some men choose wives - they want the ones the others will admire.

— Morris Kline

Math is a language that you use to describe statistics, but really it's about collecting information and putting it in an order that makes…

— Lauren Stamile

Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions.

— Evan Esar

In the realm of ideas, of mental objects, those ideas whose properties are reproducible are called mathematical objects, and the study of mental objects…

— Philip J. Davis

The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers.

— Bill Gates

But we must not underestimate the potency of the mathematical process of abstraction. A surprising variety of things happen to have both magnitude and…

— Banesh Hoffmann