Buffalo Quote by David Cay Johnston
““No person, I think, ever saw a herd of buffalo, of which a few were fat and the great majority lean. No person ever saw a flock of birds, of which two or three were swimming in grease, and the others all skin and bone.” —Henry George, American reformer, 1839–1897””
About This Quote
Source Essay: “The Myth of the Average” in The New York Times, 2010
Most of a population is average; extremes are rare, so we should not assume typicality based on a few examples.
In simple terms: Most people are average; few are very rich or very poor.
Key Takeaway
Avoid overgeneralizing from outliers.
Themes
statistics
perception
economics
Mood
analytical
critical
Type
statistical
thought‑provoking
When to use this quote
- Market analysis
- policy making
- media reporting
- financial planning
Key Concepts
Mean vs. median
distribution
bias
representativeness
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you identify true averages in data?
- What biases arise from focusing on extremes?
A Different Perspective
Rare extremes can skew perception if not contextualized.
![“I did not see anything [New York 1886] to help my people. I could see that the Wasichus [white man] did not care for each other the way our people did before the nation's hoop was broken. They would take everything from each other if they could, and so there were some who had more of everything…” quote by Black Elk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bd8/black-elk-6745_old-ways_i-did-not-see-anything-new-york-1886-to_2511198.jpg)
![“[For American consumer society], the country's reserves of ignorance constitute a natural resource as precious as the Mississippi River or the long-lost herds of buffalo.” quote by Lewis H. Lapham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6b0/lewis-h-lapham-7190_buffalo_for-american-consumer-society-the-countr_157122.jpg)
