He turned to me, looked at my face and said sharply, “Something on your mind, son? Speak up!”
“Uh—” I blurted it out. “Sir, that temporary third lieutenant—the one that got cashiered. How could I find out what happened?”
“Oh. Young man, I didn’t mean to scare the daylights out of you; I simply intended to wake you up.”
(dialogue from R.A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers, 1951.

“I didn’t mean to scare the daylights out of you; I simply intended to wake you up.” Two of our Seminarium bloggers have raised, each in her or his own way, the observation that frightened people don’t learn…