"Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more…

“Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable” has frequently been credited to the writer Mark Twain (1835-1910), but there is no evidence that the line was said during his lifetime. “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.—Fort Wayne News-Sentinel” was cited in print in April 1927.

The jocular saying has been included in several books of quotations.

18 April 1927, Rockford (IL) Register-Gazette, pg. 16, col. 8:
ADAPTABLE
Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.—Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.

Google Books
Speaker’s Handbook of Epigrams and Witticisms
By Herbert V. Prochnow
New York, NY: Harper
1955
Pg. 287:
Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable. Fort Wayne News-Sentinel

Google Books
Rewrite Right!:
How to Revise Your Way to Better Writing
By Jan Venolia
Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press/Periwinkle Press
1987
Pg. 116:
Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable. —Laurence J . Peter

Google Books
14,000 Quips and Quotes for Speakers, Writers, Editors, Preachers, and Teachers
By E. C. McKenzie
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House
1990, ©1980
Pg. 171:
Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.

Google Books
The Positive Side of Special Education:
Minimizing Its Fads, Fancies, and Follies
By Kenneth A. Kavale and Mark P. Mostert
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Ed.
2004
Pg. 63:
Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable. -William W. Watt

Google Books
When the Doctor Says, Alzheimer’s:
Your Caregiver’s Guide to Alzheimer’s and Dementia
By Betty Weiss
Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse
2013
Pg. 22:
As Mark Twain has famously said, “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable.”

Twitter
David G. Hallman
‏@authordhallman
“Facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable.” Mark Twain
8:02 AM - 22 Dec 13