traue keiner Statistik, die du nicht selbst gefälscht hast

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German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unknown. Literally, “do not believe any statistic that you haven't forged yourself". While commonly attributed to Winston Churchill, there is no proof and the proverb is completely unheard of in the English-speaking world. It was later hypothesized that the mistaken attribution was intentionally created as Nazi propaganda to discredit Churchill. The first use of this proverb is attested in 1946.

Proverb[edit]

traue keiner Statistik, die du nicht selbst gefälscht hast

  1. always take statistics with a grain of salt

Further reading[edit]