Ah, monsieur, to live in the bosom of the sea! Only there can independence be found! There I recognize no master! There I am free!

We were alone. Where, I could not say, hardly imagine. All was black, and such a dense black that, after some minutes, my eyes had not been able to discern even the faintest glimmer.

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.

There are no impossible obstacles; there are just stronger and weaker wills, that’s all!

Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.

He believed in it, as certain good women believe in the leviathan-by faith, not by reason.

How many things have been denied one day, only to become realities the next!

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.

Anything you can imagine you can make real.

All that is impossible remains to be accomplished.

We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.

Just get the 'One' in All. Then live accordingly. That's all.

In practice we, in the world, must do business with each other.

But even in the Christian religion, much of its real meaning is hidden by words that are misleading and symbols that but few understand.

Beauty and sadness always go together.

Every now and then if you try, you can discover something new.

One of the biggest lessons is to keep your feet on the floor. Just keeping grounded and not really getting above yourself and always trying your best to be yourself.

It is difficult to thinkof any circumstances where learning may be said to be impossible.

You will do very well to refuse offices; for a man seldom fails to give offense in them. It ought to weary you simply to hear them mentioned.

I like rhythmic things that butt up against each other in a cool kind of way.

The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.