Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Quote

People don't like to choose lot #1 in a lottery. "Choose it," Reason cries loudly. "It has as good a chance of winning the 12,000 thalers as any other." "In Heaven's name don't choose it," a je ne sais quoi whispers. "There's no example of such little numbers being listed before great winnings." And actually no one takes it.

Lichtenberg: Aphorisms & Letters, Aphorisms (p. 46), Jonathan Cape. 1969