A Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Author: Jules Verne Category: Science Fiction Published: November 25, 1864 Language: English File Size: 2.3 MB Tags: Adventure | Classics | Fantasy | France | novel | Science fiction | Scientific Romance |Theme:
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, explores the theme of:
- Perseverance in spite of hardships
- Even to the point of ignoring reason
- The struggle for survival in a hostile environment
Summary:
A geology professor, Otto Lidenbrock, and his nephew Axel discover and decode an ancient document that purports to show that a dormant volcano holds a secret entrance to a series of caverns leading to a subterranean world at the earth’s center.
Famous Quotes:
“It’s not what is upon this island, but what is underneath that interests me.”
“Well! Heaven had destined my uncle to become completely happy.”
“We were standing at the intersection of two roads, both dark and narrow. Which were we to take? This was a difficulty. Still my uncle refused to admit an appearance of hesitation, either before me or the guide…”
“Yes, I do; 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.”
“The farther I go the more confidence I feel. The order of these volcanic formations affords the strongest confirmation to the theories of Davy.”
“A man shut up between four walls soon loses the power to associate words and ideas together. How many prisoners in solitary confinement become idiots, if not mad, for want of exercise of the thinking faculty.”
“This is the end of a story that even people who are not usually amazed at anything may refuse to believe. But I am armed in advance against human incredulity.”
“Then my uncle became a great man, and myself the nephew of a great man, which is at least something.”
“Where did truth stop? Where did error begin? I was all adrift among a thousand contradictory hypotheses, but I could not lay hold of one.”
“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.”
“But silence, do you hear me? Silence upon the whole subject; and let no one get before us in this design of discovering the center of the earth.”
“Our principle is, that books, instead of growing mouldy behind an iron grating, should be worn out under the eyes of many readers.”
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