"Statistics on the Table"

George Stigler’s pulled a fantastic quote from Pearson for his book’s title, Statistics on the Table (1999):

I am too familiar with the manner in which actual data are met with the suggestion that other data, if they were collected, might show something else to believe it to have any value as an argument. “Statistics on the table, please,” can be my sole reply.

• Pearson (1911)

My read: fight statistics with statistics, whether via method or data. Avoid the chaff of ungrounded theory.