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.
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Context: Aronnax asks Nemo over a meal whether he likes the sea.
Source: Part One, Chapter X: The Man of the Seas
And to the question asked by Ecclesiastes three thousand years ago, “That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?” two men alone of all now living have the right to give an answer——…
I can imagine the foundations of nautical towns, clusters of submarine houses, … free towns, independent cities. Yet who knows whether some despot——
I am the law, and I am the judge! I am the oppressed, and there is the oppressor!
The sea does not belong to despots. Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at thirty feet below its…
I am not what you call a civilised man! I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating. I do not therefore obey its laws, and I desire you never to allude…
There is a powerful agent, obedient, rapid, easy, which conforms to every use, and reigns supreme on board my vessel. Everything is done by means of it. It lights it, warms it, and is the soul of my…