[skarlath]

It's very similar to something Feynman said when he found he won the Nobel Prize. I can't find the quote specifically, but he essentially said "is there any way to turn it down?" But he recognized that he couldn't and it was easier to just accept it. But he bemoaned that forever afterwards he was no longer Richard Feynman, he was Richard Feynman Nobel Prize winner. That is all from his book "What do you care what other people think?"

[maximilian]

I read that, when he gave technical talks away from Caltech, he would have to use a pseudonym, so that the room wasn't packed full of people wanting to see "Famous Nobel Prize winning Feynman" give a talk. This way only the appropriate people in the physics dept would come to see his latest results.

[mhartl]

Both this anecdote and the parent comment can be found in "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman". (N.B. The quote marks are correct: the title itself is a quote.)