20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Events Quotes

But it did exist, there was now no denying the fact; and given the inclination of the human mind to seek the fantastic, it is easy to understand the sensation that this supernatural apparition caus...

Now the latter theory, admissible after all, was unable to survive the researches carried out in the Old and New Worlds. That a private individual had at his disposition a mechanical contrivance of...

I would not have been nearly so astonished to discover the most fabulous and mythological of creatures. That what is extraordinary could have come from the Creator, is easy to believe. But to disco...

"Mobilis in Mobile."Mobile in the mobile element! The device fitted the submarine perfectly. (1.8.58-59)

I saw the enigmatic individual as essentially pitiless and cruel, as he was forced to be. I felt him as being beyond the pale of humanity, insensible to feelings of pity, the remorseless enemy of h...

I caught a glimpse of a frightening past in this man's life. Not only had he placed himself outside humanity's laws, but he had made himself independent, free in the strictest sense of the word, ou...

Would I ever know to what nation this strange man belonged, that boasted of belonging to none? Who had produced the hatred he had sworn for the whole of humanity, the hatred which might perhaps see...

"Look," he continued; "it is waking up in the sun's caresses! It is going to live its daily life again! How absorbing to study the full life of its organism!" (18.11)

Captain Nemo went back to his room, and I did not see him for some time. But how clearly sad, desperate, and irresolute he was, if I can judge the state of his soul from our ship, which reflected a...

I could easily have shot this native, within close range, but I believed it better to wait for really hostile behaviour. When dealing with savages, it is better for the Europeans to riposte, rather...

"You are right, sir," he said after a moment's silence. "It is a world apart, as foreign to terra firma as the planets accompanying this globe around the sun, and we will never benefit from the stu...

There, not a single sea creature would come to trouble the final sleep of the inhabitants of the Nautilus, friends welded to each other in death as they were in life! "Not a single man, either!" th...

I began to reflect upon the incidents of our excursion to Mannar Bank. Two reflections inevitably followed. One was the outstanding bravery of Captain Nemo; the other his devotion to a fellow creat...

"Well, we will enter the Atlantic, which is still unknown to us. Ah, friend Ned, are you already tired of our journey under the seas? Are you already blasé about this constantly changing spectacle...

"And so, captain," Conseil said seriously, "if by chance this were the last of its race, would it be better to spare it—in the interests of science?""Perhaps," responded the Canadian; "but in the...

"Never be of any use!" he replied animatedly. "What makes you believe, monsieur, that these riches must be considered wasted if I collect them? Do you think that it is for my own benefit that I tak...

We had arrived at a first plateau, where further surprises awaited me. Here picturesque ruins stood up, bearing the mark of man's hand and not that of the Creator. […]But Captain Nemo came close...

Would I receive a warm reception if I asked for this freedom? Had he not declared, at the beginning and in formal fashion, that the secret surrounding his life demanded that we be kept imprisoned o...

"Can it be that all we will have to take with us are the memories of these yet-unseen sight?""Would it please you," Captain Nemo asked, "to take back more than memories?""What do you mean?""I mean...

If I follow my hunch and if I have understood the captain's life, the Nautilus is not only a ship, it must also be a place of refuge for those, like its captain, who have broken all ties with the l...

"Monsieur," Land said to me that day, "if your captain goes further…""Well?""Then he will be a master amongst men.""Why, Ned?""Because nobody can cross the ice-cap. Your captain is powerful, but...

"That is a going a little far, but I do believe we wouldn't have been able to stop our friend [Ned] from harpooning a few of those magnificent cetaceans. And that would have upset Captain Nemo, for...

"How beautiful it is! How beautiful!" exclaimed Conseil."Yes," I said, "it's a wonderful sight. Isn't it Ned?"Hell, yes," riposted Land. "It's superb! I hate to have to agree. We've never seen anyt...

I could understand how a life like this would suit a man who had no regrets about leaving life on shore, a Captain Nemo who was at home here, who went where he wished, and who pursued goals that we...

Even on the occasions when our hearts have gone out to you, moved by some of your pain or your acts of genius or courage, we have had to hide all signs of the sympathy that comes from the sight of...

What could be making him so unhappy? Was it being so close to European shores? Did he have memories of his abandoned homeland? In that case, what did he experience—remorse or regret? (2.20.39)

Perhaps I would never know who he was, where he came from, where he was going, but I could see the man more and more distinctly from the scientist. It was not common misanthropy that had enclosed C...

All these events passed before my eyes like minor scenes taking place in the backdrop of the stage. Then against this strange setting Captain Nemo grew out of all proportion. His character was acce...

But what became of the Nautilus? Did it resist the embrace of the Maelstrom? Is Captain Nemo still alive? Is he continuing his terrifying reprisals under the ocean, or did he stop at his last massa...