Quotes & Sayings About Correlation And Causation

Don't confuse correlation and causation. Almost all great records eventually dwindle ... — Charlie Munger

However, correlation does not necessarily imply causation. The fact that people tend to carry umbrellas when it rains creates a high correlation between umbrella carrying and rain showers. However, it is obvious that choosing to carry an umbrella does not cause rainfall. — Eugene Soltes

If ... we choose a group of social phenomena with no antecedent knowledge of the causation or absence of causation among them, then the calculation of correlation coefficients, total or partial, will not advance us a step toward evaluating the importance of the causes at work. — Ronald Fisher

Most of you will have heard the maxim "correlation does not imply causation." Just because two variables have a statistical relationship with each other does not mean that one is responsible for the other. For instance, ice cream sales and forest fires are correlated because both occur more often in the summer heat. But there is no causation; you don't light a patch of the Montana brush on fire when you buy a pint of Haagan-Dazs. — Nate Silver

Distinguishing between correlation and causation is critical to our understanding of the biology and conservation of monarchs and milkweeds. Turning back to our study of chocolate: countrywide spending on science also correlates with per capita income, the latter of which correlates with chocolate consumption (at least in the Western world). Even so, I would happily participate in a controlled study to determine the influence of chocolate consumption on scientific discoveries. — Anurag Agrawal

One of the first things taught in introductory statistics textbooks is that correlation is not causation. It is also one of the first things forgotten. — Thomas Sowell

I have never been in a bad mood and near a beach ball at the same time. Causation? Correlation? Or fate? — Demetri Martin

There is a difference between correlation and causation - many people mistake one for the other — Steven D. Levitt

All too often when liberals cite statistics, they forget the statisticians' warning that correlation is not causation. — Thomas Sowell

Correlation is not causation. — Kenneth L. Woodward