Jules Verne Quotes

In the sixteenth century neither the barometer nor the manometer had been invented — how, then, could Saknussemm have been able to discover when he did reach the centre of the earth?

So is man's heart. The desire to perform a work which will endure, which will survive him, is the origin of his superiority over all other living creatures here below. It is this which has established his dominion, and this it is which justifies it, over all the world.

I dream with my eyes open.

an energetic man will succeed where an indolent one would vegetate and inevitably perish.

There are no impossible obstacles; there are just stronger and weaker wills, that’s all!

...why, I've just this instant found out... that we might have gone around the world in only seventy-eight days.

And in it all, where did the truth end and error begin?

Pride,” said the hermit to his guests, “has destroyed an angel created for good. It is the stumbling-block against which the destinies of man strike. You cannot reason with pride, the principal of all the vices, since, by its very nature, the proud man refuses to listen to it...

"Now," said I, "we must not let this water run away."
"Why not?" replied my uncle. "I suspect the spring is unfailing." (p. 105)

Science, my boy, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.

One friend is always sacrificed to the other in friendship.

Mieux vaut mettre les choses au pis tout de suite, répondit l’ingénieur, et ne se réserver que la surprise du mieux.

Personne n'ignore que l'Inde — ce grand triangle renversé dont la base est au nord et la pointe au sud — comprend une superficie de quatorze cent mille milles carrés, sur laquelle est inégalement répandue une population de cent quatre-vingts millions d'habitants. Le gouvernement britannique exerce une domination réelle sur une certaine partie de cet immense pays. Il entretient un gouverneur général à Calcutta, des gouverneurs à Madras, à Bombay, au Bengale, et un lieutenant-gouverneur à Agra. Mais l'Inde anglaise proprement dite ne compte qu'une superficie de sept cent mille milles carrés et une population de cent à cent dix millions d'habitants. C'est assez dire qu'une notable partie du territoire échappe encore à l'autorité de la reine; et, en effet, chez certains rajahs de l'intérieur, farouches et terribles, l'indépendance indoue est encore absolue.

Qu'un Anglais comme lui fît le tour du monde un sac à la main, passe encore; mais une femme ne pouvait entreprendre une pareille traversée dans ces conditions.

"Are we rising again?" "No. On the contrary." "Are we descending?" "Worse than that, captain! we are falling!"