I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph.
Source: In The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, ch. 1, BY Tom Wolfe, 1968.
-- Ken Kesey, (Sep 17 1935-2001), US novelist; He is best known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1962; adapted to film with Jack Nicholson, 1975.