I am sorry, but I do not wish to accept the honorary degree you have offered me. I already have one degree, honestly earned, from Princeton. At the commencement when I received it, I remember watching the honorary degrees being conferred and feeling that an “honorary” degree was a debasement of the idea of a degree that confirms that certain work has been accomplished.
– Richard Feynman til Robert Boheen, 1967. (Perfectly reasonable deviations from the beaten track: The collected letters of Richard P. Feynman)