What a big book, captain, might be made with all that is known!" "And what a much bigger book still with all that is not known!
Jules VerneIt may be taken for granted that, rash as the Americans are, when they are prudent there is good reason for it.
Jules VerneWhy lower oneself to taking pride from being American or British, when you can boast of being man!
Jules VerneGreat robbers always resemble honest folk. Fellows who have rascally faces have only one course to take, and that is to remain honest; otherwise, they would be arrested off-hand.
Jules VerneWhile there is life there is hope. I beg to assert...that as long as a man's heart beats, as long as a man's flesh quivers, I do not allow that a being gifted with thought and will can allow himself to despair.
Jules VerneI wanted to see what no one had yet observed, even if I had to pay for this curiosity with my life.
Jules VerneOn the earth, even in the darkest night, the light never wholly abandons his rule. It is diffused and subtle, but little as may remain, the retina of the eye is sensible of it.
Jules VerneOn the morrow the horizon was covered with clouds- a thick and impenetrable curtain between earth and sky, which unhappily extended as far as the Rocky Mountains. It was a fatality!
Jules VerneWe were alone. Where, I could not say, hardly imagine. All was black, and such a dense black that, after some minutes, my eyes had not been able to discern even the faintest glimmer.
Jules VerneI saw the world. I learnt of new cultures. I flew across an ocean. I wore women's clothing. Made a friend. Fell in love. Who cares if I lost a wager? Queen Victoria: I do! I've got 20 quid riding on you
Jules VerneAs long as the heart beats, as long as body and soul keep together, I cannot admit that any creature endowed with a will has need to despair of life.
Jules VerneScience, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.
Jules VerneHow tranquil is a coral tomb, and may the heavens grant that my companions and I be buried in no other!
Jules VerneNo sooner is the rage of hunger appeased than it becomes difficult to comprehend the meaning of starvation. It is only when you suffer that you really understand.
Jules VerneEverybody knows that the great reversed triangle of land, with its base in the north and its apex in the south, which is called India, embraces fourteen hundred thousand square miles, upon which is spread unequally a population of one hundred and eighty millions of souls.
Jules VerneHe believed in it, as certain good women believe in the leviathan-by faith, not by reason.
Jules VerneDinner was ready. Professor Lidenbrock did full justice to it, for his compulsory fast on board had turned his stomach into an unfathomable gulf.
Jules VerneHe who is mistaken in an action which he sincerely believes to be right may be an enemy, but retains our esteem.
Jules VerneIt seems wisest to assume the worst from the beginning...and let anything better come as a surprise.
Jules VerneThe Nautilus was piercing the water with its sharp spur, after having accomplished nearly ten thousand leagues in three months and a half, a distance greater than the great circle of the earth. Where were we going now, and what was reserved for the future?
Jules VerneWhen I returned to partial life my face was wet with tears. How long that state of insensibility had lasted I cannot say. I had no means now of taking account of time. Never was solitude equal to this, never had any living being been so utterly forsaken.
Jules VerneNothing is more dreadful than private duels in America. The two adversaries attack each other like wild beasts. Then it is that they might well covet those wonderful properties of the Indians of the prairies - their quick intelligence, their ingenious cunning, their scent of the enemy.
Jules VerneHunger, prolonged, is temporary madness! The brain is at work without its required food, and the most fantastic notions fill the mind. Hitherto I had never known what hunger really meant. I was likely to understand it now.
Jules VerneThere is hope for the future, and when the world is ready for a new and better life, all these things will some day come to pass, - in God's good time
Jules VerneThe sea is the vast reservoir of Nature. The globe began with sea, so to speak; and who knows if it will not end with it?
Jules VerneAh!" I cried, springing up. "But no! no! My uncle shall never know it. He would insist upon doing it too. He would want to know all about it. Ropes could not hold him, such a determined geologist as he is! He would start, he would, in spite of everything and everybody, and he would take me with him, and we should never get back. No, never! never!" My over-excitement was beyond all description.
Jules Verne....oysters are the only food that never causes indigestion. Indeed, a man would have to eat sixteen dozen of these acephalous molluscs in order to gain the 315 grammes of nitrogen he requires daily.
Jules VerneThe sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.
Jules VerneIt must be, for there is a logic to everything on this earth and nothing is done without a reason, that God sometimes lets scientists discover.
Jules VerneI believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through.
Jules Verne