“We were brought up watching opening batsmen score nine before lunch. If Geoffrey Boycott flashed at a ball outside off stump in the first over of a Test match, questions were asked in Parliament. If he flashed at two, the ravens abandoned the Tower of London.”

Of cricket) Adventures of Gerard (1903

The Evolution of A Revolt (1920)
Context: Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals. It can only be ensured by instinct, sharpened by thought practicing the stroke so often that at the crisis it is as natural as a reflex.

during in the Indian Mutiny, 1857
Poetry

Source: The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic (Revised Edition) 1977, Chapter Four, Coins, Wheels, And Oddments, p. 75

Black Elk Speaks (1961)

Source: Disgrace

Entry (1961)
Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook (2005)
Context: Originality is not something continuous but something intermittent — a flash of the briefest duration. One must have the time and be watchful (be attuned) to catch the flash and fix it. One must know how to catch and preserve these scant flakes of gold sluiced out of the sand and rocks of everyday life. Originality does not come nugget-size.

"Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner", written by Warren Zevon and David Lindell
Excitable Boy (1978)