Categories Quote by George Stigler
“...the number of saintly men has not yet risen to the level where the census makes them a separate statistical category.”
About This Quote
The proportion of genuinely saintly individuals is so small that statistical surveys cannot treat them as a distinct demographic group.
In simple terms: Saintly people are too few for a separate category.
Key Takeaway
Rare virtue resists quantification.
Themes
statistics
morality
rarity
social measurement
Mood
wry
analytical
Type
observation
satire
When to use this quote
- public policy design
- charitable organization profiling
- sociological research
Key Concepts
measurement limits
ethical distribution
Practical Applications
- focus on qualitative assessment
- avoid over‑reliance on metrics
Questions to Reflect On
- How should societies value rare virtue without metrics?
- What alternatives exist to quantify moral impact?
A Different Perspective
Moral behavior can be context‑dependent, making any count arbitrary.
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![“I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. [...] I think biographies are very urgent to children.” quote by Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a53/joan-didion-497_biographies_i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-t_43631.jpg)
