Mark Twain

“ You do seem determined to bring destruction on us all. Don`t you know that there is no better conductor for lightning than an open chimney? Now where have you got to?"
"I`m here by the window."
"Oh, for pity`s sake, have you lost your mind? Clear out from there, this moment. The very children in arms know it is fatal to stand near a window in a thunder-storm. Dear, dear, I know I shall never see the light of another day. Mortimer?" ”

“ It is mostly confined to women; but now and then you find it in a little dog, and sometimes in a man. It is a particularly distressing infirmity, for the reason that it takes the sand out of a person to an extent which no other fear can, and it can`t be reasoned with, and neither can it be shamed out of a person. A woman who could face the very devil himself -- or a mouse -- loses her grip and goes all to pieces in front of a flash of lightning. Her fright is something pitiful to see.
Well, as I was telling you, I woke up, with that smothered and unlocatable cry of "Mortimer! Mortimer!" ”

“ You ought to be ashamed to lie there and sleep so, and such an awful storm going on."
"Why, how can one be ashamed when he is asleep? It is unreasonable; a man can`t be ashamed when he is asleep, Evangeline."
"You never try, Mortimer, -- you know very well you never try." ”