I like the way Cosma Shalizi described it to aspiring statisticians: INDEPENDENCE: otherwise, you rely on someone else always having made exactly the right too

I like the way Cosma Shalizi described it to aspiring statisticians: INDEPENDENCE: otherwise, you rely on someone else always having made exactly the right tool for you, and giving it to you. HONESTY: otherwise, you end up distorting the problem to match the tools you happen to have. CLARITY: turning your method into something a machine can do forces you to discipline your thinking and make it communicable; and science is public.