Causation Quotes

“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, The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—But Some Don't

“God's existence needs to be established independently before he can be brought into account for causation; it cannot be assumed at the start.”
― S.T. Joshi, God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong

“My aim is to argue that the universe can come into existence without intervention, and that there is no need to invoke the idea of a Supreme Being in one of its numerous manifestations.”
― P.W. Atkins