“TRUE! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses – not destroyed – not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily – how calmly I can tell you the whole story.”

“True, nervous, very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am, but why will say that I am mad?! The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute.”

“True! - nervous - very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”

“I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth.I heard many things in hell.”

“Yet mad I am not...and very surely do I not dream.”

“And haven't I told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses.”

“And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses?”