A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from December 22, 2013
“Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable”

“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

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityGovernment/Law/Military/Religion /Health • Sunday, December 22, 2013 • Permalink


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