Let’s Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

A letter to the editor printed Dec. 15 suggests you ought to have credited Mark Twain for the title of your Nov. 29 article, “Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics.”

While I agree that attribution would have been nice, it wasn’t only rumors of Mark Twain’s death that were sometimes greatly exaggerated, but his alleged authorship of so many witticisms as well. If you credit anyone for your article’s title, do give it, correctly, to 19th century British statesman Benjamin Disraeli.

DIANA BRITT

Pasadena

Editor’s note: Right you are. Mark Twain attributed the quote to Disraeli in his autobiography. The remark in full is, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”