Tongue-in-cheek quote on dust extinction I remember hearing a quote or maybe rather an anecdote about a famous astronomer but I can't recall the exact wording and I also forgot who allegedly said it. Unfortunately, that has thwarted all my googling attempts.

It goes like this:

The retired astronomer gets asked by a journalist if he would do it all again and he replies something along the lines of:


  Only if selective to total extinction were constant.


Is this something that really happened? If so, who said it and what is the exact wording?

Please also provide a source if possible.
Well, I managed to contact the person I heard this from.

Apparently it was Walter Baade who was asked:


  If you had your life to live over, would you be an astronomer again?


To which he answered:


  Only if the ratio of total to selective absorption is everywhere the same.




I will not accept this answer as I have not been able to find a source yet. If anyone can find one, feel free to answer and I'll accept.



EDIT: Decided to accept after all, since apparently no one here knows a source. Follow up question regarding the source here.