>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 02/27/04 1:19 PM >>> Benjamin Disraeli referred to "lies, damn lies and statistics". Jurriaan
from 'the phrase finder': Often attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister. The source for this view is the autobiography of Mark Twain, where he makes that attribution. No version of this quotation has been found in any of Disraeli's published works or letters though. The earliest reference yet found anywhere is to a speech made by Leonard H. Courtney, (1832-1918), later Lord Courtney, in New York in 1895 - 'After all, facts are facts, and although we may quote one to another with a chuckle the words of the Wise Statesman, "Lies - damn lies - and statistics," still there are some easy figures the simplest must understand, and the astutest cannot wriggle out of.' It may be that Twain thought that in the 'Wise Statesman' Courtney was referring to Disraeli.
