This simile brought to mind an image of a magnesium flare, and reminded me of others I’ve shared here on brightness and related qualities, such as George Eliot’s description of a sizzlingly active mind; Virginia Woolf on a pair of bright eyes; Patrick Leigh Fermor on the brightness of a leatherbound book cover; and perhaps most fun of all, Ruiz Zafon’s novel simile for the brightness of a morning. 

… bright as magnesium.  

Feel bright, be bright and brighten up your speech or writing with any of these glowing similes.

Source: Justin Marozzi, The Man Who Invented History: Travels with Herodotus (London: John Murray, 2009), p. 25

Photo credit: Christopher Burns at unsplash