The line “lies, damned lies, and statistics” is most famously associated with Mark Twain, who quoted it in 1907 and said it came from British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, but historians now think the true origin is uncertain and probably not Disraeli.

Who said it?

  • Mark Twain popularized the phrase in his 1907 work Chapters from My Autobiography , writing that it was a remark “attributed to Disraeli”: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
  • Because of Twain’s remark, the quote is often credited either to Twain himself or to Benjamin Disraeli , even though it does not appear in any known work or speech by Disraeli.

What do scholars say now?

  • Modern research into newspapers, speeches, and letters from the late 1800s has not found a reliable Disraeli source, so most scholars treat that attribution as doubtful.
  • Earlier variants appear in British sources from the 1890s, including references to “three kinds of falsehoods… lies, damned lies, and statistics,” which suggests the phrase evolved in political and journalistic circles rather than from a single clear author.

So how should it be answered?

  • For a quick, everyday answer, people usually say: “Mark Twain said it, attributing it to Benjamin Disraeli.”
  • For a more precise answer, it is safest to say: “The phrase was popularized by Mark Twain; he credited it to Benjamin Disraeli, but the real origin is unknown.”

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