International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Ann Arbor | Local 252
The phrase “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics” is commonly attributed to Mark Twain, who popularized it in his writings. Specifically, Twain wrote in his 1906 autobiography, Chapters from My Autobiography, published in the North American Review: “Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli, ‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics,’ is peculiarly applicable.”
Twain credited the phrase to Benjamin Disraeli, the former British Prime Minister, but there’s no definitive evidence that Disraeli ever said or wrote it. Some scholars suggest the phrase may have originated elsewhere or been a common saying at the time. Despite this, Twain’s attribution to Disraeli is the most widely recognized source, and he’s often credited with popularizing it.
