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In their own words

Jules Verne quotes

11 quotations, each verified against its source and credited to the work it comes from — the wording as Jules Verne wrote or said it, not as the internet passes it around.

Illustrated portrait of Jules Verne
Yes! I love it! The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the globe.

Oui ! je l'aime ! La mer est tout ! Elle couvre les sept dixièmes du globe terrestre.

Captain Nemo, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), Part 1, chapter X
Its breath is pure and healthy. It is the immense desert where man is never alone, for he feels life quivering at his side.

Son souffle est pur et sain. C'est l'immense désert où l'homme n'est jamais seul, car il sent frémir la vie à ses côtés.

Captain Nemo, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), Part 1, chapter X
The sea does not belong to despots. On its surface they can still exercise unjust rights, fight there, devour one another there, carry every earthly horror there. But thirty feet below its surface their power stops, their influence dies out, their might disappears!

La mer n'appartient pas aux despotes. À sa surface, ils peuvent encore exercer des droits iniques, s'y battre, s'y dévorer, y transporter toutes les horreurs terrestres. Mais à trente pieds au-dessous de son niveau, leur pouvoir cesse, leur influence s'éteint, leur puissance disparaît !

Captain Nemo, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), Part 1, chapter X
There alone is independence! There I recognise no masters! There I am free!

Là seulement est l'indépendance ! Là je ne reconnais pas de maîtres ! Là je suis libre !

Captain Nemo, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), Part 1, chapter X
Professor, the commander replied sharply, I am not what you call a civilised man! I have broken with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right to judge.

Monsieur le professeur, répliqua vivement le commandant, je ne suis pas ce que vous appelez un homme civilisé ! J'ai rompu avec la société tout entière pour des raisons que moi seul j'ai le droit d'apprécier.

Captain Nemo, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), Part 1, chapter X
We are going to go to the Moon, we shall go to the planets, we shall go to the stars, as we go today from Liverpool to New York — easily, quickly, safely. Distance is only a relative word, and will end by being reduced to zero.

On va aller à la Lune, on ira aux planètes, on ira aux étoiles, comme on va aujourd'hui de Liverpool à New-York, facilement, rapidement, sûrement. La distance n'est qu'un mot relatif, et finira par être ramenée à zéro.

Michel Ardan, From the Earth to the Moon (1865), chapter XIX
Nothing can astonish an American. It has often been said that the word “impossible” is not French; the wrong dictionary was evidently consulted.

Rien ne saurait étonner un Américain. On a souvent répété que le mot « impossible » n'était pas français ; on s'est évidemment trompé de dictionnaire.

Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon (1865), chapter III
I do not pursue my road, he often said; it is my road that pursues me.

Je ne poursuis pas mon chemin, disait-il souvent, c'est mon chemin qui me poursuit.

Dr Samuel Fergusson, Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863), chapter I
Obstacles, Fergusson answered seriously, are invented to be overcome; as for dangers, who can flatter himself that he escapes them? Everything in life is a danger.

Les obstacles, répondit sérieusement Fergusson, sont inventés pour être vaincus ; quant aux dangers, qui peut se flatter de les fuir ? Tout est danger dans la vie.

Dr Samuel Fergusson, Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863), chapter III
Look with all your eyes, look!

Regarde de tous tes yeux, regarde !

Jules Verne, Michael Strogoff (1876)
Music is no longer tasted, it is swallowed!

On ne goûte plus la musique, on l'avale !

Jules Verne, Paris in the Twentieth Century, written c. 1863 and published in 1994

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