Attribution of thoughts

Much of what I have to say has been stimulated by sources other than those I can cite or recall. A student's question, a colleague's comment, a paragraph or phrase read in a context now forgotten, a deep insight expressed by a scholar far more capable than I--all have stimulated my thinking in ways that I can no longer trace. Similarly, an absurdity in another writer's presentation or even a poorly designed and interpreted experiment may have strongly influenced my point of view. To all these now invisible sources, I am grateful.

-- W. R. Uttal, The New Phrenology, Acknowledgements