He lived alone, and, so to speak, outside of every social relation; and as he knew that in this world account must be taken of friction, and that friction retards, he never rubbed against anybody.
Beneath the lower point of the balloon swung a car, containing five passengers, scarcely visible in the midst of the thick vapor mingled with spray which hung over the surface of the ocean.
Ben Zoof, whose ideas of discipline were extremely rigid, at once suggested that the colony should be put under the surveillance of the police, that the cardinal points should be placed under restraint, and that the sun should be shot for breach of discipline.
Music is no longer tasted it is swallowed.
Our principle is, that books, instead of growing mouldy behind an iron grating, should be worn out under the eyes of many readers.
A man of action as well as a man of thought, all he did was without effort to one of his vigorous and sanguine temperament.
Civilization is like air or water. Wherever there is a passage, be it only a fissure, it will penetrate and modify the conditions of a country.
How many things have been denied one day, only to become realities the next!
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.
Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.
Why lower oneself to taking pride from being American or British, when you can boast of being man!
The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.
An energetic man will succeed where an indolent one would vegetate and inevitably perish.
The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment.
Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.
We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.
There are no impossible obstacles; there are just stronger and weaker wills, that’s all!
We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.
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.
I believe cats to be spirits come to earth. A cat, I am sure, could walk on a cloud without coming through.