--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Like dreams, statistics are a form of…" description: "\"Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment.\" — Jean Baudrillard" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/jean-baudrillard-1500_data_like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wis_1998249.jpg" --- # Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment. ![“Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment.” quote by Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/jean-baudrillard-1500_data_like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wis_1998249.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/jean-baudrillard-1500_data_like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wis_1998249.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/jean-baudrillard-1500_data_like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wis_1998249.jpg) > “Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment.” [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Statistics, like dreams, reflect desires more than objective reality **In simple terms:** Statistics mirror wishes, not facts Key Takeaway Question the assumptions behind data Themes statistics perception reality Mood critical analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - Market research - policy making - personal forecasting Key Concepts Sociology philosophy epistemology Questions to Reflect On - How do personal biases shape statistical interpretation? - Can statistics ever be truly objective? A Different Perspective Data can be manipulated to fit narratives ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Data](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Dreams Statistics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams-statistics-3501196/) [Fulfillment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fulfillment/) [Like Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-dreams-275311/) [Statistics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/statistics/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/) [Wish Fulfillment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish-fulfillment-408347/) ## Related quotes > [If you look at romantic comedies as pieces of commerce, the audience is looking for wish fulfillment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-hanks/if-you-look-at-romantic-comedies-as-pieces-of-commerce-the-audience/) [Tom Hanks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-hanks/) > [“To eat one's fill, eat until the exhaustion of the appetite, was the principal pleasure that the peasants dangled before their imagination, and one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-darnton/to-eat-one-s-fill-eat-until-the-exhaustion-of-the-appetite-was-the/) [Robert Darnton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-darnton/) > [Harry Potter' is my favorite series, and I've always loved that wish fulfillment, 'anything is possible' idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-jeffery/harry-potter-is-my-favorite-series-and-i-ve-always-loved-that-wish/) [Sarah Jeffery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-jeffery/) > [All of us write wish fulfillment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-child/all-of-us-write-wish-fulfillment/) [Lee Child](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-child/) > [All film, at the end of the day, has wish-fulfillment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-leitch/all-film-at-the-end-of-the-day-has-wish-fulfillment/) [David Leitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-leitch/) > [For some people they say, it's about wish fulfillment, it's about the things you are never able to do in your day you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-harris/for-some-people-they-say-it-s-about-wish-fulfillment-it-s-about-the/) [Shelby Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-harris/) > [“I was watching Booknotes on CSPAN the other day and got caught up in an interview with a literary critic from the New York…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-miller/i-was-watching-booknotes-on-cspan-the-other-day-and-got-caught-up-in/) [Donald Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-miller/) > [The wish fulfillment of growing younger is not necessarily all it's cracked up to be. 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It is the basis of social and political…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolphe-quetelet/whether-statistics-be-an-art-or-a-science-or-a-scientific-art-we/) [Adolphe Quetelet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolphe-quetelet/) > [No matter what the statistics say there is always a way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-siegel/no-matter-what-the-statistics-say-there-is-always-a-way/) [Bernie Siegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-siegel/) > [Statistics are like miniskirts: They give you good ideas but hide the important things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ebbe-skovdahl/statistics-are-like-miniskirts-they-give-you-good-ideas-but-hide-the/) [Ebbe Skovdahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ebbe-skovdahl/) ## More by Jean Baudrillard > [“The whole gestural system of work was also obscene, in sharp contrast to the miniaturized and abstract gestural system of control to which it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/the-whole-gestural-system-of-work-was-also-obscene-in-sharp-contrast/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [“We will live in this world, which for us has all the disquieting strangeness of the desert and of the simulacrum, with all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/we-will-live-in-this-world-which-for-us-has-all-the-disquieting/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [Holidays are in no sense an alternative to the congestion and bustle of the cities and work. Quite the contrary. People look to escape…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/holidays-are-in-no-sense-an-alternative-to-the-congestion-and-bustle/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/there-is-nothing-funny-about-halloween-this-sarcastic-festival/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [The sickly cultural pathos which the whole of France indulges in, that fetishism of the cultural heritage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/the-sickly-cultural-pathos-which-the-whole-of-france-indulges-in-that/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [“We need a visible past, a visible continuum, a visible myth of origin to reassure us as to our ends, since ultimately we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/we-need-a-visible-past-a-visible-continuum-a-visible-myth-of-origin/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [History that repeats itself turns to farce. 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As with illness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/with-the-truth-you-need-to-get-rid-of-it-as-soon-as-possible-and-pass/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [You have to know how to disappear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/you-have-to-know-how-to-disappear/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [Large department stores, with their luxuriant abundance of canned goods, foods, and clothing, are like the primary landscape and the geometrical locus of affluence.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/large-department-stores-with-their-luxuriant-abundance-of-canned/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [The sad thing about artificial intelligence is that it lacks artifice and therefore intelligence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/the-sad-thing-about-artificial-intelligence-is-that-it-lacks-artifice/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) [Explore all 228 Jean Baudrillard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) ## More Data quotes > [Information is money, but data is squat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-llama-butler/information-is-money-but-data-is-squat/) [Angela Llama-Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-llama-butler/) > [“ data analytics consulting Perceptive Analtyics is a data analytic company and a trusted advisor to its clients across domains. Click to know more”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastianmax/data-analytics-consulting-perceptive-analtyics-is-a-data-analytic/) [SebastianMax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastianmax/) > [The information nation took their clues from all the sound bite gluttons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem/the-information-nation-took-their-clues-from-all-the-sound-bite/) [REM](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem/) > [Sometimes I am a collector of data, and only a collector, and am likely to be gross and miserly, piling up notes, pleased with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-fort/sometimes-i-am-a-collector-of-data-and-only-a-collector-and-am-likely/) [Charles Fort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-fort/) > [But actually theory is very practical. Gravity is a theory, for example. It allows you to predict that if you step off a cliff…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clayton-christensen/but-actually-theory-is-very-practical-gravity-is-a-theory-for-example/) [Clayton Christensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clayton-christensen/) > [Statistics are like miniskirts: They give you good ideas but hide the important things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ebbe-skovdahl/statistics-are-like-miniskirts-they-give-you-good-ideas-but-hide-the/) [Ebbe Skovdahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ebbe-skovdahl/) > [Unlike return, however, risk is no more quantifiable at the end of an investment that it was at its beginning. Risk simply cannot be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-klarman/unlike-return-however-risk-is-no-more-quantifiable-at-the-end-of-an/) [Seth Klarman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-klarman/) > [Finding patterns is easy in any kind of data-rich environment; that's what mediocre gamblers do. The key is in determining whether the patterns represent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nate-silver/finding-patterns-is-easy-in-any-kind-of-data-rich-environment-that-s/) [Nate Silver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nate-silver/) > [ \[Brazil\] went to the UN and said, "We need new standards for this." We need to take a look at what they're calling "data… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/brazil-went-to-the-un-and-said-we-need-new-standards-for-this-we-need/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) > [We're living in a technological world. You cannot tell me we can't do a better job getting that information.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/we-re-living-in-a-technological-world-you-cannot-tell-me-we-can-t-do/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [Web users ultimately want to get at data quickly and easily. They don't care as much about attractive sites and pretty design.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-berners-lee/web-users-ultimately-want-to-get-at-data-quickly-and-easily-they-don/) [Tim Berners-Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-berners-lee/) > [You cannot have 300-some million Americans - and really, right, the global citizenry be at risk of having their phone conversations intercepted with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/you-cannot-have-300-some-million-americans-and-really-right-the/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [An important finding is that by determining the genome sequences of an entire family, one can identify many DNA sequencing errors and thus greatly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leroy-hood/an-important-finding-is-that-by-determining-the-genome-sequences-of/) [Leroy Hood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leroy-hood/) > [While it's wonderful that investors have access to all the data now available to them, it has become a full-time job to sift through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-bartiromo/while-it-s-wonderful-that-investors-have-access-to-all-the-data-now/) [Maria Bartiromo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-bartiromo/) > [“The amount of stored information grows four times faster than the world economy, while the processing power of computers grows nine times faster. Little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-mayer-sch-nberger/the-amount-of-stored-information-grows-four-times-faster-than-the/) [Viktor Mayer-Schönberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-mayer-sch-nberger/) [Browse all 3,134 Data quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Baudrillard" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wish-fulfillment/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Data" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wish-fulfillment/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/jean-baudrillard-1500_data_like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wis_1998249.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/jean-baudrillard-1500_data_like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wis_1998249.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/962/jean-baudrillard-1500_data_like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wis_1998249.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Like dreams, statistics are a form of wish fulfillment.” — Jean Baudrillard", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jean Baudrillard", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Like dreams, statistics are a form...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wish-fulfillment/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/like-dreams-statistics-are-a-form-of-wish-fulfillment/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```