Quotes from Journey to the Center of the Earth

Quotations follow the William Butcher translation (Oxford University Press, 2008) — our recommended edition.

1. 2

   Descend, bold traveller, into the crater of the jokul of Sneffels, which the shadow of Scartaris touches before the kalends of July, and you will attain the centre of the earth; which I have done, Arne Saknussemm.

2. 3

   Science, my boy, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.

3. 4

   Science, my lad, has been built upon many errors; but they are errors which it was good to fall into, for they led to the truth.

4. 5

   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.

5. 6

   Books, instead of growing mouldy behind an iron grating, should be worn out under the eyes of many readers.

6. 7

   He had but one idea—forward!

7. 8

   If at every instant we may perish, so at every instant we may be saved.

8. 9

   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.

9. 10

   The sea! the Liedenbrock Sea; and I don't suppose any other discoverer will ever dispute my claim to name it after myself as its first discoverer.

10. 11

    Then my uncle became a great man, and I was now the nephew of a great man—which is not a privilege to be despised.