Date: 1774, rev. 1787, 1779 in English

"My mind is calm and serene, like the first fine mornings of spring."

— Goethe, Johann Wolfgang (1749-1832)

Date: 1774, rev. 1787, 1779 in English

"My sensations change with the rapidity of lightning."

— Goethe, Johann Wolfgang (1749-1832)

Date: 1774, rev. 1787, 1779 in English

"The whole force of these words fell like a stroke of thunder on the heart of the unfortunate Werter."

— Goethe, Johann Wolfgang (1749-1832)

Date: December 1843-January 1844

"And once the lightning of thought has squarely struck this ingenuous soil of the people, the emancipation of the Germans into men will be accomplished."

— Marx, Karl (1818-1883)