In the old days, when table making was a handcraft, some table makers felt that every entry in a table was a theorem (and so it is) and must be correct . One famous table maker used to put in errors deliberately so that he would be able to spot his work when others reproduced it without his permission.

PHILIP J. DAVIS, Fidelity in Mathematical Discourse: Is One and One Really Two? (1972)

The copy editor is a diamond cutter who refines and polishes, removes the flaws and shapes the stone into a gem. The editor searches for errors and inaccuracies, and prunes the useless, the unnecessary qualifiers and the redundancies. The editor adds movement to the story by substituting active verbs for passive ones, specifics for generalities.

FLOYD K. BASKETTE, JACK Z. SISSORS and BRIAN S. BROOKS, The Art of Editing (1992)

Lotka's law states that the number of people producing n papers is proportional to 1/n ².

FRANK T. MANHEIM, The Scientific Referee (1975)

Memo from a Chinese Economic Journal: We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity.

From Rotten Rejections