Jules Verne Quotes & Sayings

Civilization never recedes; the law of necessity ever forces it onwards. — Jules Verne

Anything capable of being imagined will one day be made reality. — Jules Verne

A man of merit owes himself to the homage of the rest of mankind who recognize his worth. — Jules Verne

Hope is so firmly rooted in the heart of man! — Jules Verne

Your dead sleep quietly, at least, Captain, out of reach of sharks" "Yes, sir, of sharks and men. — Jules Verne

IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT RECEIVES A NEW PROOF THAT FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE — Jules Verne

When science has sent forth her fiat - it is only to hear and obey. — Jules Verne

As 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 Verne

The travellers crossed, beyond Milligaum, the fatal country so often stained with blood by the sectaries of the goddess Kali. — Jules Verne

Man is so constituted that health is a purely negative state. Hunger once satisfied, it is difficult for a man to imagine the horrors of starvation; they cannot be understood without being felt. — Jules Verne

He believed in it, as certain good women believe in the leviathan-by faith, not by reason. — Jules Verne

Aouda fastened her great eyes, "clear as the sacred lakes of the Himalaya," upon him; but the intractable Fogg, as reserved as ever, did not seem at all inclined to throw himself into this lake. — Jules Verne

the coast, irregular — Jules Verne

The sole precoccupation of this learned society was the destruction of humanity for philanthropic reasons and the perfection of weapons as instruments of civilization. — Jules Verne

During the War of the Rebellion, a new and influential club was established in the city of Baltimore in the State of Maryland — Jules Verne

Well, I feel that we should always put a little art into what we do. It's better that way. — Jules Verne

What I'd like to be above all is a writer ... — Jules Verne

Sir Francis, recognising the statue, whispered, The goddess Kali; the goddess of love and death. — Jules Verne

As for the Yankees, they had no other ambition than to take possession of this new continent of the sky, and to plant upon the summit of its highest elevation the star- spangled banner of the United States of America. — Jules Verne

Died in 1814. He was — Jules Verne

Distance is but a relative expression, and must end by being reduced to zero. — Jules Verne

Mr. Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemed always to avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical personage, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of the world. People said that he resembled Byron - at least that his head was Byronic; but he was a bearded, tranquil Byron, who might live on a thousand years without growing old. — Jules Verne

The happiest animal in the world," he used to say, " would be a snail who could make himself just such a shell as he wanted;I shall try to be an intelligent snail. — Jules Verne

The Great Architect of the universe built it of good firm stuff. — Jules Verne

There's an island over there. On that island there are trees. Under those trees there are animals carrying around chops and roast beefs, and I wouldn't mind a bit sinking my teeth into a little good meat. — Jules Verne

As I remarked before, the Asiatic elephant is smaller than the African, which is frequently twelve feet high, and its tusks are in proportion. In the island of Ceylon a certain number of animals are found deprived of these appendages, but "mucknas," which is the name given them, are rare on the mainland of India. Behind — Jules Verne

Travel enables us to enrich our lives with new experiences, to enjoy and to be educated, to learn respect for foreign cultures, to establish friendships, and above all to contribute to international cooperation and peace throughout the world. — Jules Verne

Put two ships in the open sea, without wind or tide, and, at last, they will come together. Throw two planets into space, and they will fall one on the other. Place two enemies in the midst of a crowd, and they will inevitably meet; it is a fatality, a question of time; that is all. — Jules Verne

Everybody knows that England is the world of betting men, who are of a higher class than mere gamblers: to bet is in the English temperament. — Jules Verne

In the memory of the dead all chronological differences are effaced. — Jules Verne

Far better to be the simplest pedestrian, with knapsack on back, stick in hand, and gun on shoulder, than an Indian prince travelling with all the ceremonial which his rank requires. — Jules Verne

I wanted to protect my professorial dignity and not lay myself open to laughter from the Americans, who when they do laugh, laugh raucously — Jules Verne

Could it have passed away in electric sheets, as is sometimes the case with regard to the typhoons of the Indian Ocean? — Jules Verne

Man is never perfect nor contented. — Jules Verne

To modify the conditions of the Earth's movement is beyond the powers of man. It is not given to mankind to change the order established by the Creator in the system of the Universe. — Jules Verne

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 Verne

Alluding to the extent of Florida, a mere peninsula confined between two seas, they pretended that it could never sustain the shock of the discharge, and that it would "bust up" at the very first shot.
"Very well, let it bust up!" replied the Floridans, with a brevity of the days of ancient Sparta. — Jules Verne

But I am letting myself be carried away by reveries which I must now put aside. Enough of these phantasies. — Jules Verne

he knew that in this world account must be taken of friction, and that friction retards, he never rubbed against anybody. As — Jules Verne

Ah!' said Michel, tempted, 'you have modern poems?'
'Of course. For instance, Martillac's 'Electric Harmonies,' which won a prize last year from the Academic of Sciences, and Monsieur de Pulfasse's 'Meditations on Oxygen;' and we have the 'Poetic Parallelogram,' and even the 'Decarbonated Odes ... '
Michel couldn't bear hearing another word and found himself outside again, stupefied and overcome. Not even this tiny amount of art had escaped the pernicious influence of the age! Science, Chemistry, Mechanics had invaded the realm of poetry! 'And such things are read,' he murmured as he hurried through the streets, ' perhaps even bought! And signed by the authors and placed on the shelves marked 'Literature.' But not one copy of Balzac, not one work by Victor Hugo! Where can I find such things-where, if not the Library ... — Jules Verne

Now, the earth occupies one of the foci of the ellipse, and so at one point in its course is at its apogee, that is, at its farthest from the sun, — Jules Verne

Conseil: If that is the case, this dugong may well be the last of its race, and perhaps it would be better to spare it, in the interest of science.
Ned Land: Perhaps it will be better to hunt it, in the interest of the kitchen. — Jules Verne

You are going to visit the land of marvels. — Jules Verne

Many come to seek fortunes who only find trouble and sorrow, and then they throw the blame on chance, and forget the true cause is their own idleness and vice and want of commonsense. Whoever is sober and industrious, honest and economical, gets on. — Jules Verne

At the beginning of the year 1859 it was estimated that more than 120,000 native officers and soldiers had perished, and more than 200,000 civilian natives, who paid with their lives for their participation - often doubtful - in this insurrection. Terrible reprisals these; and perhaps, on that occasion, Mr. Gladstone had some reason on his side when he protested so energetically against them in Parliament. It was important, for the better understanding of our story, that the death-list on both sides should be given as above, to make the reader comprehend the unsatiated hatred which still remained in the hearts of the conquered, thirsting for vengeance, as well as in those of the conquerors, who, ten years afterwards, were still mourning the victims of Cawnpore and Lucknow. As — Jules Verne

Death, the beginning of eternal things, is only the end of earthly cares. -Priest — Jules Verne

If savages had the ways of gentlemen, where would be the difference? — Jules Verne

How many things have been denied one day, only to become realities the next! — Jules Verne

Two men were promenading up and down — Jules Verne

Nothing, say you? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming woman, who, strange as it may appear, made him the happiest of men! — Jules Verne

On 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 Verne

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

Unhappily for his master, as well as himself, his curiosity drew him unconsciously farther off than he intended to go. At last, having seen the Parsee carnival wind away in the distance, he was turning his steps towards the station, when he happened to espy the splendid pagoda on Malabar Hill, and was seized with an irresistible desire to see its interior. He was quite ignorant that it is forbidden to Christians to enter certain Indian temples, and that even the faithful must not go in without first leaving their shoes outside — Jules Verne

Everything is possible for an eccentric, especially when he is English. — Jules Verne

You have plenty of time; it's only twelve o'clock."

Passepartout pulled out his big watch. "Twelve!" he exclaimed; "why, it's only eight minutes before ten."

"Your watch is slow."

"My watch? A family watch, monsieur, which has come down from my great-grandfather! It doesn't vary five minutes in the year. It's a perfect chronometer, look you."

"I see how it is," said Fix. "You have kept London time, which is two hours behind that of Suez. You ought to regulate your watch at noon in each country."

"I regulate my watch? Never!"

"Well, then, it will not agree with the sun."

"So much the worse for the sun, monsieur. The sun will be wrong, then! — Jules Verne

From the moment they had left the Earth, their own weight, and that of the Projectile and the objects therein contained, had been undergoing a progressive diminution ... Of course, it is quite clear, that this decrease could not be indicated by an ordinary scales, as the weight to balance the object would have lost precisely as much as the object itself. But a spring balance, for instance, in which the tension of the coil is independent of attraction, would have readily given the exact equivalent of the loss. — Jules Verne

The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth. — Jules Verne

Dictionaries, manuals, grammars, study guides and topic notes, classical authors and the entire book trade in de Viris, Quintus-Curtius, Sallust, and Livy peacefully crumbled to dust on the shelves of the old Hachette publishing house; but introductions to mathematics, textbooks on civil engineering, mechanics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, courses in commerce, finance, industrial arts- whatever concerned the market tendencies of the day - sold by the millions of copies. — Jules Verne

Therever fortune clears a way, thither our ready footsteps stray. — Jules Verne

If his destiny be strange, it is also sublime. — Jules Verne

When science has uttered her voice, let babblers hold their peace. — Jules Verne

Everything, it said, was against the travellers, every obstacle imposed alike by man and by nature. A miraculous agreement of the times of departure and arrival, which was impossible, was absolutely necessary to his success. He might, perhaps, reckon on the arrival of trains at the designated hours, in Europe, where the distances were relatively moderate; but when he calculated upon crossing India in three days, and the United States in seven, could he rely beyond misgiving upon accomplishing his task? There were accidents to machinery, the liability of trains to run off the line, collisions, bad weather, the blocking up by snow - were not all these against Phileas Fogg? Would he not find himself, when travelling by steamer in winter, at the mercy of the winds and fogs? — Jules Verne

Ah! Young people, travel if you can, and if you cannot - travel all the same! — Jules Verne

I don't think a being endowed with will-power should ever despair,as long as his hear beats. — Jules Verne

Science, 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 Verne

In this manner, in early days, were formed those vast and prodigious layers of coal, which an ever - increasing consumption must utterly use up in about three centuries more, if people do not find some more economic light than gas, and some cheaper motive power than steam. All — Jules Verne

With happiness as with health: to enjoy it, one should be deprived of it occasionally. — Jules Verne

Steam seems to have killed all gratitude in the hearts of sailors. — Jules Verne

An energetic man will succeed where an indolent one would vegetate and inevitably perish. — Jules Verne

Music is no longer tasted it is swallowed. — Jules Verne

If the thing is feasible, the first to do it ought to be an Englishman. — Jules Verne

Well, old Barbicane, they might have cut me into slices, from my feet upwards, before I could have worked out that problem.'
'Because you don't know algebra,' replied
Barbicane quietly.
'Ah, there you are, you fellows with your x's. You think algebra is an answer to everything. — Jules Verne

Now, when an American has an idea, he directly seeks a second American to share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries. Given four, they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready for work; five, they convene a general meeting, and the club is fully constituted. — Jules Verne

What darkness to you is light to me — Jules Verne

The Yankees, the first mechanicians in the world, are engineers - just as the Italians are musicians and the Germans metaphysicians - by right of birth. Nothing is more natural, therefore, than to perceive them applying their audacious ingenuity to the science of gunnery. — Jules Verne

I looked on, I thought, I reflected, I admired, in a state of stupefaction not altogether unmingled with fear! — Jules Verne

He must have travelled everywhere, at least in the spirit. — Jules Verne

It is not new continents the earth needs, but new men. — Jules Verne

But you perceive, my boy, that it is not so, and that facts, as usual, are very stubborn things, overruling all theories. — Jules Verne

The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment. — Jules Verne

One single supporter remained faithful to him: an old paralytic, Lord Albermarle. The noble lord, confined to his armchair, would have given his whole fortune to be able to travel around the world, in ten years even; and he bet four thousand pounds on Phileas Fogg. — Jules Verne

What one man can think, another man can do. — Jules Verne

You don't see, I dare say, Axel, but if you were to listen, you might hear. — Jules Verne

I am induced to think," said Pencroft, "that this man was not wrecked on Tabor Island, but that in consequence of some crime he was left there. — Jules Verne

It is only when you suffer that you truly understand. — Jules Verne

I have always made a point in my romances of basing my so-called inventions upon a groundwork of actual fact, and of using in their construction methods and materials which are not entirely without the pale of contemporary engineering skill and knowledge. — Jules Verne

Dost thou not understand that there are two distinct forces in us, that of the soul and that of the body, that is, a movement and a regulator? — Jules Verne

Trains, like time and tide, stop for no one. — Jules Verne

His countenance possessed in the highest degree what physiognomists call "repose in action," a quality of those who act rather than talk. — Jules Verne

The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and puzzling phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten. — Jules Verne

On the surface of the ocean, men wage war and destroy each other; but down here, just a few feet beneath the surface, there is a calm and peace, unmolested by man — Jules Verne

As for seeing the town, the idea never occurred to him, for he was the sort of Englishman who, on his travels, gets his servant to do his sightseeing for him. — Jules Verne

Yes, forgotten by all else, but not by us. — Jules Verne

The body regulates the soul, and, like the balance-wheel, it is submitted to regular oscillations. — Jules Verne

Nothing 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 Verne

It's really useful to travel, if you want to see new things. — Jules Verne

If to live in this style is to be eccentric, it must be confessed that there is something good in eccentricity. — Jules Verne

Work, my boy! forget me for a few years; I'd only give you bad advice; don't mention our meeting to your uncle- it might do you harm; don't think about an old man who would be dead long since, were it not for his dear habit of coming here every day and finding his old friends on these shelves. — Jules Verne

He was the most deliberate person in the world, yet always reached his destination at the exact moment. As for Phileas Fogg, it seemed just as if the typhoon were a part of his programme. Around the world in eighty days — Jules Verne

I would have bartered a diamond mine for a glass of pure spring water! — Jules Verne