However, the balloon, lightened of heavy articles, such as ammunition, arms, and provisions, had risen into the higher layers of the atmosphere, to a height of 4,500 feet. The voyagers, after having discovered that the sea extended beneath them, and thinking the dangers above less dreadful than those below, did not hesitate to throw overboard even their most useful articles, while they endeavored to lose no more of that fluid, the life of their enterprise, which sustained them above the abyss.

We 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.

Liberty is worth paying for.

A true Englishman doesn't joke when he is talking about so serious a thing as a wager.

I am very bad at expressing tender sentiments. The very word 'love' frightens me.

One's native land!?there should one live! there die!

What use are the best of arguments when they can be destroyed by force?