Jules Verne - Collected Quotes

"Either my calculation is correct, or there is no truth in figures." (Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Center of the Earth", 1864)

"How do you attack the unknown, or defend yourself from it?" (Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Center of the Earth", 1864)

"I was caught up in the happiness of those who go on journeys, a feeling of hope mixed with a sense of freedom." (Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Center of the Earth", 1864)

"In the cause of science men are expected to suffer." (Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Center of the Earth", 1864)

"Science, great, mighty and in the end unerring [...] science has fallen into many errors - errors which have been fortunate and useful rather than otherwise, for they have been the stepping stones to truth." (Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Center of the Earth", 1864)

"The Great Architect of the universe built it of good firm stuff." (Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Center of the Earth", 1864)

"When science has sent forth her fiat - it is only to hear and obey." (Jules Verne, "A Journey to the Center of the Earth", 1864)

"Thanks to the courage and devotion of three men, this project of sending a bullet to the moon, once seen as a futile enterprise, had already produced concrete results, with incalculable consequences. The voyagers, imprisoned in their new satellite, had not reached their destination, but at least they had become part of the lunar world; they were in orbit around the celebrity of the night, and, for the first time, the human eye could penetrate all her mysteries." (Jules Verne, "From the Earth to the Moon", 1865)

"There was the class of superstitious people; they are not content simply to ignore what is true, they also believe what is not true." (Jules Verne, "From the Earth to the Moon", 1865)

"They did unto others what they would not have others do unto them, an immoral principle that is the basic premise of the art of war." (Jules Verne, "From the Earth to the Moon", 1865)

"They were only planning to send a projectile to the moon, a rather brutal way

of opening negotiations, even with a satellite, but one much in favor among

civilized nations." (Jules Verne, "From the Earth to the Moon", 1865)

"All things are simple […] when you know how to do them." (Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", 1870)

"Look at that sea! Who can say it isn’t actually alive! It expresses its anger and its tenderness! Yesterday it went to sleep as we did, and now like us it is awakening after a peaceful night." (Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", 1870)

"The sea is everything. It covers seven-tenths of the planet. Its breath is pure and healthful. It’s an immense wilderness where a man never feels lonely, for he feels life astir on every side. The sea fosters a wondrous, supernatural existence." (Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", 1870)

"This planet doesn’t need new continents, it needs new men." (Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", 1870)

"We cannot prevent equilibrium from producing its effects. We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones." (Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", 1870)

"You are going to tour the land of marvels. Astonishment, amazement will

become your everyday state of mind. You won’t get bored with the spectacles

I will provide for you. I’m going on another tour of the submarine world." (Jules Verne, "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", 1870)

"Above them Phileas Fogg moved in majestic indifference. He was following his own rational orbit around the world, without bothering at all about the asteroids gravitating around him." (Jules Verne, "Around the World in Eighty Days", 1873)

"Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them." (Jules Verne, "The Fur Country", 1873)

"Civilization never recedes; the law of necessity ever forces it onwards." (Jules Verne, "The Mysterious Island", 1875)

"When a journey begins badly it rarely ends well." (Jules Verne, "The Floating Island", 1895)