“A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation”

“A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation” was written by Saki (the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, 1870-1916) in The Square Egg (1924).
 
“A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation” was written by Clarence Edwin Ayres (1891-1972) in Science, the False Messiah (1927).
 
Ayres’ version is the one that is usually cited, although both versions of the line are well known.
 
   
Wikipedia: Saki
Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 13 November 1916), better known by the pen name Saki, and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story, and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. Influenced by Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling, he himself influenced A. A. Milne, Noël Coward and P. G. Wodehouse.
   
Wikipedia: Clarence Edwin Ayres
Clarence Edwin Ayres (May 6, 1891 – July 24, 1972) was the principal thinker in the Texas school of Institutional Economics, during the middle of the 20th century.
 
Google Books
King Mob:
A Study of the Present-day Mind
By Frank K. Notch
New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace and Company
1930
Pg. 143:
As C. E. Ayres charmingly says: “A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation.”
 
Google Books
The Intelligent Buyer’s Guide to Sellers
By Dexter Masters
Mount Vernon, NY: Consumers Union
1965
Pg. 200:
“A Little Inaccuracy Saves a World of Explanation”
(...)
The title of this chapter is taken from C. E. Ayres’ Science, the False Messiah.
 
Google Books
Dictionary of Quotations in Communications
Compiled by Lilless McPherson Shilling and Linda K. Fuller
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press
1997
Pg. 142:
A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation.
C.E. Ayers
   
Google Books
Oxford Treasury of Sayings and Quotations, 4th Edition
By Susan Ratcliffe
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
2011
Pg. 261:
A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation.
Saki 1870-1916; The Square Egg (1924)
 
Twitter
Insant Follow Back
‏@InstantAutomata
wisdom @ACESBLACKSTAR What do you think of this? A little inaccuracy saves a world of #explanation. -C. E. Ayres #friendship
8:57 PM - 22 Aug 2012
 
Google Books
The Resilience of Champions!™:
Secret Habits of Highly Resilient Individuals and Organizations
By Dr.Tommy A. Watson, Ed. D., ACC
Bloomington, IN: iUniverse
2014
Pg. XVIII:
Talk about intentional, my boss swears by the notion, “A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation.”