44 Lightning Quotes to Rediscover this Dramatic Wonder of Nature

The rumbling of thunderclouds, followed by a flash of lightning, is a universal experience that still leaves many in awe. Read the 44 lightning quotes below to discover more about this natural phenomenon.

Some of us are fascinated by lightning, while others are downright terrified. This vital force of nature can make us stand in wonderment at the planet's beauty, while in some cases, its strength and massiveness can intimidate us and make us feel unsafe.

All in all, where one sees beauty, another sees danger, an ode to how differently humans can interpret different aspects of life. Whichever way you feel, the following 44 quotes about lightning may increase your love for it or hopefully help you calm your nerves.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote: "The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine." | Image: AmoDays

Quotes about Life and Lightning

"Genius unrefined resembles a flash of lightning, but wisdom is like the sun." — Franz Grillparzer

"Success is like a lightning bolt. It'll strike you when you least expect it, and you just have to keep the momentum going." — Michelle Phan

"The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds; High towers fall with a heavier crash; And the lightning strikes the highest mountain." — Horace

"I have learned to prize the quiet, lightning deed, not the applauding thunder at its heels that men call fame." — Alexander Smith

Michelle Phan’s quote: "Success is like a lightning bolt. It'll strike you when you least expect it, and you just have to keep the momentum going." | Image: AmoDays

"Life is a flash of lightning in the dark of night. It is a brief time of tremendous potential." ― B. Alan Wallace

"Lightning strikes the earth, and thunder heralds the doom, but the earth bears it all in silence, teaching us that life may be harsh to us, but we shouldn't be so to life." ― Tista Ray

"You might get run over; you might get hit by lightning. I mean, who knows? Each day, there is a chance you might die. And there's nothing wrong with that. Every living being on Earth is facing that same existential rift." ― Alex Honnold

"Man brings all things to test himself, and this is notably true of lightning." ― Aldo Leopold

Quotes about Thunder

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work." ― Mark Twain

Matshona Dhliwayo’s quote: "Thunder roars but does not strike. Lightning strikes but does not roar. Choose to be lightning." | Image: AmoDays

"Only one thing that you can see and hear that is beautiful and frightening at the same time, and that is a thunderstorm." ― R.K. Cowles

"Thunder roars but does not strike. Lightning strikes but does not roar. Choose to be lightning." ― Matshona Dhliwayo

Poetic and Beautiful Quotes about Lightning

"A poet is someone who stands outside in the rain hoping to be struck by lightning." ― James Dickey

"Sometimes it feels like you've set off a spectacular lightning show in my heart, and I wonder if other people can see the flashes through my skin." ― John Mark Green

"I can't keep myself from creativity. Ideas flash like lightning burning my bones. It must flow out of my hands, or it will burst me apart." ― Patricia Robin Woodruff

Lao Tzu’s quote: "If lightning is the anger of the gods, then the gods are concerned mostly about trees." | Image: AmoDays

"I have a reservoir filled with lightning under my heart." ― Seanan McGuire, "Come Tumbling Down"

"No mortal eye has ever fully seen a flash of lightning, for no matter how firmly we look, our eyes are sure to be dazzled." — Berthold Auerbach

"If lightning is the anger of the gods, then the gods are concerned mostly about trees." ― Lao Tzu

"You know not, yet, the sort of love that strikes like a lightning bolt; that clutches hold of you by the heart, as irrevocably as death; that becomes the lodestar by which you steer the rest of your life. I would not wish such a love on anyone, man or woman, for it can make your life a paradise, or it can destroy you utterly." — Juliet Marillier

Berthold Auerbach’s quote: "No mortal eye has ever fully seen a flash of lightning, for no matter how firmly we look, our eyes are sure to be dazzled." | Image: AmoDays

"Human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning." — Samuel Butler

"The music was thunder and joy. Lightning bolts of happiness and praise, foot-stomping, dance-shouting, good-feeling singing from the soul." — Etta James

"Lightning strikes, you fear; rainbow appears, you are amazed; the sun rises, you relax; flood comes, you run away! Nature is like an amazing actor that exists to give you all kinds of emotions!" ― Mehmet Murat Ildan

"Poetry is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, which consumes the scabbard that would contain it." — Percy Bysshe Shelley

Quotes about Personal Experiences with Lightning

"Then a lightning bolt shot straight through my skivvies. Sha-ZAM!" — Megan McCafferty

Steven Magee’s quote: "I did not like the large amount of lightning in Florida." | Image: AmoDays

"I was raised as a Catholic, but I got up to go to church because I thought I'd be hit by a bolt of lightning if I didn't." — Chuck Feeney

"And somewhere amidst the storm raging inside, between the twilight of lust and desire, entwined within the whirlwind of swirling emotions, it happened. In one lightning strike, the illusion crumbled. For I realized the naked truth..." ― Virginia Alison

"I did not like the large amount of lightning in Florida." ― Steven Magee

Electrifying Lightning Quotes

"I can do lightning mathematics quicker than somebody can do them on a calculator." — Keith Barry

George Carlin’s quote: "Electricity is really just organized lightning" | Image: AmoDays

"They say all marriages are made in heaven, but so are thunder and lightning." ― Clint Eastwood

"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning." — Bill Watterson

"Increased lightning is causing increased forest fires." ― Steven Magee

"Long-term exposure to abnormally high levels of lightning may trigger genetic adaptation processes in the human." ― Steven Magee

"Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lightning kills hundreds of people each year who try to find it." ― E.L. Kersten

Clint Eastwood’s quote: "They say all marriages are made in heaven, but so are thunder and lightning." | Image: AmoDays

"When lightning strikes at sea, why don't all the fish die?" ― Anthony Doerr, "All the Light We Cannot See"

"I have never made fun of religion. Religion is something I don't even want to mess with because I am really afraid of the clouds opening up and my being struck by lightning." ― Alice Cooper

"Lightning emits a high-powered electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that induces energy into everything in the area." ― Steven Magee

Keith Barry’s quote: "I can do lightning mathematics quicker than somebody can do them on a calculator." | Image: AmoDays

"The uniformity of the earth's life, more astonishing than its diversity, is accountable by the high probability that we derived, originally, from some single cell, fertilized in a bolt of lightning as the earth cooled." ― Lewis Thomas

"If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron." ― Lee Trevino

"And when I breathed, my breath was lightning." ― Black Elk

"There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age." — Bill Bryson

"Electricity is really just organized lightning." — George Carlin

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s quote: "Poetry is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, which consumes the scabbard that would contain it." | Image: AmoDays

Beyond lightning and storms, the earth is full of many fascinating phenomena. The ocean remains vastly unexplored, the mountain peaks we continue to climb leave us breathless, and the sun itself is a glorious ballad to how life sustains itself.

Unfortunately, many have become so used to this that we forget to recognize the beauty and awe that we once had as children. Read these 58 quotes about wonder and awe to spark a sense of gratitude for the world around us.