John Tukey quotes

John Tukey was an American mathematician and statistician renowned for his pioneering work in statistics and data analysis. His contributions include the development of exploratory data analysis and the invention of the fast Fourier transform algorithm. He greatly influenced modern approaches to how we analyze and interpret data. Here are 7 of his quotes:

The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body of data.

John Tukey

An approximate answer to the right question is worth far more than a precise answer to the wrong one.

John Tukey

Numerical quantities focus on expected values, graphical summaries on unexpected values.

John Tukey

The tool that is so dull that you cannot cut yourself on it is not likely to be sharp enough to be either useful or helpful.

John Tukey

The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.

John Tukey

In rating ease of description as very important, we are essentially asserting a belief in quantitative knowledge - a belief that most of the key questions in our world sooner or later demand answers to 'by how much?' rather than merely to 'in which direction?'

John Tukey