Theme: nature
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Luminous Atmosphere
All this while we were advancing on our journey; and at length night came; but as I had remarked the evening before, the luminous state of the atmosph...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Exploration Doubt
Did Saknussemm ever fall in with this great sheet of water? I begin to fear that the rivulet we adopted for a guide has led us wrong." "In any case, w...
Frankenstein / Descent and Liberation
I walked and, I believe, descended, but I presently found a great alteration in my sensations. Before, dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me, imper...
The War of the Worlds / Battlefield Contrast
Everyone stood arrested by the sudden stir of battle, near us and yet invisible to us. Nothing was to be seen save flat meadows, cows feeding unconcer...
Frankenstein / Unexpected Encounter
Their first supposition was that it was the corpse of some person who had been drowned and was thrown on shore by the waves, but on examination they f...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Unprepared Voyage
We are utterly unprepared for a sea voyage; it is simply madness to think of performing a journey of five hundred leagues upon a wretched pile of beam...
Gulliver's Travels / Sustenance and Satire
She gave me a large bowlful, of which I drank very heartily, and found myself well refreshed. About noon, I saw coming towards the house a kind of veh...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Frozen Frontiers
To the east one only existed somewhere about the eightieth degree of latitude, the Esk, upon the island of Jan Mayen, not far from the frozen regions ...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Journeys Threshold
Allahabad was now only twelve miles to the north-east. They stopped under a clump of bananas, the fruit of which, as healthy as bread and as succulent...
Gulliver's Travels / Isolation and Discovery
Three days after my arrival, walking out of curiosity to the north-east coast of the island, I observed, about half a league off in the sea, somewhat ...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Oceanic Encounter
It swam crossways in the direction of the _Nautilus_ with great speed, watching us with its enormous staring green eyes. Its eight arms, or rather fee...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Natures Mysteries
Hour after hour passed without our coming to the termination of these floating weeds. If my astonishment increased, my patience was well-nigh exhauste...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Exploration and Discovery
I saw in the morning, some miles to the windward, the elevated summits of the island. These waters furnished our table with excellent fish, mackerel, ...
Gulliver's Travels / Horses and Humanity
When I asserted that the _Yahoos_ were the only governing animals in my country, which my master said was altogether past his conception, he desired t...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Antediluvian Fears
"A tremendous spurt of water rising out of the waves." "Some other marine monster," I cried, already alarmed. "Perhaps." "Then let us steer more to th...
Frankenstein / Transformed Perception
Before, I looked upon the accounts of vice and injustice that I read in books or heard from others as tales of ancient days or imaginary evils; at lea...
Gulliver's Travels / Struggle at Sea
The seamen threw me the end of the cord, which I fastened to a hole in the fore-part of the boat, and the other end to a man of war; but I found all m...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Geographic Revelation
“Well, Sir Naturalist,” said the Canadian, in a slightly jovial tone, “and the Mediterranean?” “We are floating on its surface, friend Ned.” “What!” s...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Beauty and Isolation
But, beautiful as it was, I could only take a rapid glance at the basin whose superficial area is two million of square yards. Even Captain Nemo’s kno...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Maritime Reflection
I therefore seated myself at the end of a promontory, at the foot of which the waves broke in incessant rolls. I looked round a bay formed by projecti...
Frankenstein / Moral Dilemmas
To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on record have been, app...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Upward Struggles
For some time I have noticed that we are going upwards." "Upwards," cried my uncle, shrugging his shoulders, "how can that be?" "There can be no doubt...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Granite Majesty
At last, after about four hours, this marvellous excursion came to an end. A wall of superb rocks, in an imposing mass, rose before us, a heap of giga...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Ecosystems Reimagined
The soil was still of the same volcanic nature; everywhere were traces of lava, scoriae, and basalt; but the crater which had vomited them I could not...
Gulliver's Travels / Concealment and Discord
He had therefore begun to think it not unwise in us to cover our bodies, and by that invention conceal many of our deformities from each other, which ...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Structural Resilience
I felt the steel plates tremble at the fastenings of the bolts; its bars bent, its partitions groaned; the windows of the saloon seemed to curve under...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Human Ambition
Such a process, simple as it seemed, would most certainly not have entered our heads. Nothing could be more dangerous than to begin to work with picka...
Gulliver's Travels / Savage Satire
This favourite is hated by the whole herd, and therefore, to protect himself, keeps always near the person of his leader. He usually continues in offi...
Frankenstein / Juxtaposition of Innocence
I was oppressed by fatigue and hunger and far too unhappy to enjoy the gentle breezes of evening or the prospect of the sun setting behind the stupend...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Evolutionary Wonders
Higher up still, the first monkey ever seen on the face of the globe clambered, gamboling and playing up the granite hills. Still farther away, ran th...
Frankenstein / Quest for Knowledge
But the cursory glance my father had taken of my volume by no means assured me that he was acquainted with its contents, and I continued to read with ...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Oceanic Dynamics
Indeed, the volume of water in the Mediterranean, incessantly added to by the waves of the Atlantic and by rivers falling into it, would each year rai...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Submarine Dinner
The _Nautilus_, like a long rock, emerged from the waves two miles from the beach. Ned Land, without waiting, occupied himself about the important din...
Gulliver's Travels / Boundaries and Journeys
I was an hour walking to the end of this field, which was fenced in with a hedge of at least one hundred and twenty feet high, and the trees so lofty ...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Navigating Adversity
The wind was very unfavorable to a craft that was unable to sail close to the wind. We were continually reduced to pushing ourselves forward by means ...
The War of the Worlds / Indiscriminate Warfare
Never before in the history of warfare had destruction been so indiscriminate and so universal. And shining with the growing light of the east, three ...
The War of the Worlds / Struggle and Despair
As the days wore on, his utter carelessness of any consideration so intensified our distress and danger that I had, much as I loathed doing it, to res...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Existential Journey
Can it give heat to a dead body?” “Not that I know of.” “Well, my friend, this earth will one day be that cold corpse; it will become uninhabitable an...
Dracula / Harvest of Flies
I thought it well to humour him: so he is back in his room with the window open. He has the sugar of his tea spread out on the window-sill, and is rea...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Arrival and Anticipation
Nearly the whole population of the town was on foot to see us land. The fact was, that scarcely any one of them but expected some goods by the periodi...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Desperate Quenching
Our thirst was so intense that to quench it we would have dug below the bed of old Ocean itself. Hans went quietly to work--a work which neither my un...
Gulliver's Travels / Curiosity and Conflict
I soon fell asleep, and all I can conjecture is, while I slept, the page, thinking no danger could happen, went among the rocks to look for birds’ egg...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Natures Tension
The horizon grew wider and clearer at the same time. Suddenly, just as on the day before, Ned Land’s voice was heard: “The thing itself on the port qu...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Nemos Ascent
Captain Nemo went towards the peak, which he doubtless meant to be his observatory. It was a painful ascent over the sharp lava and the pumice-stones,...
Frankenstein / Desolation and Vulnerability
dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it were, instinctively, finding myself so desolate. Before I had quitted your apartment, ...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Anticipation in Nature
About twelve o'clock in the day our guide Hans having prepared and baited a hook, cast his line into the subterranean waters. The bait he used was a s...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Technological Terror
Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing (which was evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move. We had only just time t...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Journey Through Nature
The railway turned around the sides of the mountains, and did not attempt to violate nature by taking the shortest cut from one point to another. The ...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Navigating Perilous Terrain
It is necessary, however, to take great precaution, in order to avoid the weight of falling waters, which would cause the raft to founder in an instan...
The War of the Worlds / Nature and Mechanization
Once the lightning had begun, it went on in as rapid a succession of flashes as I have ever seen. The thunderclaps, treading one on the heels of anoth...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Marine Exploration
At this moment the peak was clearly defined against the sky. The _Nautilus_, diving again under the water, approached the coast, which was only some f...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Scarecrow Guardianship
grinning scarecrows protected from the sparrows, pigeons, ravens, and other voracious birds.
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Culinary Survival
no, bread, indeed.” “I do not say that fish is not good; we must not abuse it; but a piece of fresh venison, grilled on live coals, will agreeably var...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Wreckage and Despair
The keel seemed to be in good order, and it had been wrecked at most some few hours. Three stumps of masts, broken off about two feet above the bridge...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Survival in Isolation
On March 22, the _Nautilus_ was in the open polar seas. For five days we had lived on the reserve on board. And what was left of the respirable air mu...
The War of the Worlds / Titan Encounter
I marched on recklessly towards this Titan, and then, as I drew nearer and the light grew, I saw that a multitude of black birds was circling and clus...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Natures Anomaly
If my astonishment increased, my patience was well-nigh exhausted. What natural force could possibly have produced such abnormal and extraordinary pla...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Perception Versus Reality
"Are you ill, Henry?" continued the Professor in an anxious tone. All now seems well," I added, looking around me with strangely puzzled eyes. "All ri...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Calm Amidst Chaos
But this man of nerve manifested neither impatience nor annoyance; it seemed as if the storm were a part of his programme, and had been foreseen. Aoud...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Philosophical Calm
But a learned man, a philosopher, is nothing if not a philosopher, when he keeps his ideas calm and collected; and certainly the Professor possessed t...
The War of the Worlds / Shared Struggle
It would seem that a number of men or animals had rushed across the lawn. I began to see his face, blackened and haggard, as no doubt mine was also.
Frankenstein / Love and Turmoil
While we love, while we are true to each other, here in this land of peace and beauty, your native country, we may reap every tranquil blessing—what c...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Ceylons Legacy
Then turning to me, said: “The Island of Ceylon, noted for its pearl-fisheries. Aronnax?” “Certainly, Captain.” “Well, the thing is easy.
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Instruments of Depth
But these others, no doubt, answer to the particular requirements of the _Nautilus_. This dial with the movable needle is a manometer, is it not?” “It...
Pride and Prejudice / Rejection of Opulence
She must own that she was tired of great houses: after going over so many, she really had no pleasure in fine carpets or satin curtains. “If it were m...
The War of the Worlds / Control and Chaos
I am not an expert driver, and I had immediately to turn my attention to the horse. When I looked back again the second hill had hidden the black smok...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Natures Paradox
"Providence appears to have designed the preservation in this vast and mysterious hothouse of antediluvian plants, to prove the sagacity of learned me...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Descent into Darkness
The descent then commenced in the following order: Hans went first, my uncle followed, and I went last. Our progress was made in profound silence--a s...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Exploration and Isolation
I thought that a mountainous region was succeeding the long plains; and accordingly, after a few evolutions of the _Nautilus_, I saw the southerly hor...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Chase and Escape
The harpoon regained, we followed in pursuit of the animal. The latter came now and then to the surface to breathe. Its wound had not weakened it, for...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Icelandic Resilience
It was utterly useless to show any signs of impatience. I could not help smiling to see him look so big on his little horse; his long legs now and the...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Natures Indifference
The buffaloes marched along with a tranquil gait, uttering now and then deafening bellowings. There was no use of interrupting them, for, having taken...
The War of the Worlds / Desolation Aftermath
In a few minutes there was, so far as the soldier could see, not a living thing left upon the common, and every bush and tree upon it that was not alr...
Gulliver's Travels / Nature of Vice
He was wholly at a loss to know what could be the use or necessity of practising those vices. To clear up which, I endeavoured to give some ideas of t...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Maritime Endeavors
As usual, the crew was small, five Danes doing the whole of the work. "Well, I should think about ten days," replied the skipper, "unless, indeed, we ...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Natures Contrasts
“Good!” said Conseil; “a concert of bulls!” “No; a concert of morses.” “They are fighting!” “They are either fighting or playing.” We now began to cli...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Guidance and Rejuvenation
It will, of course, naturally follow in our track, and will serve to guide and refresh us." "I think the idea a good one," I cried in reply, "and with...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Prudence vs Adventure
To fly is, therefore, the course to be suggested by ordinary prudence. But we have not come into that part of the world to be prudent. The nearer we c...
Frankenstein / Natures Fury
The most violent storm hung exactly north of the town, over the part of the lake which lies between the promontory of Belrive and the village of Copêt...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Temporal Clash
Am I, then, an inhabitant of the earth of the present day, destined to find myself face to face with a representative of this antediluvian family? I c...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Culinary Discomfort
The water was fresh and clear, but it was water, and did not suit Ned Land’s taste. Amongst the dishes which were brought to us, I recognised several ...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Exploration and Irony
sir,” said Captain Nemo, in an ironical tone, “you will always be the same. I affirm that not only can the _Nautilus_ disengage itself, but also that ...
Gulliver's Travels / Natures Scale
Their tallest trees are about seven feet high: I mean some of those in the great royal park, the tops whereof I could but just reach with my fist clen...
Gulliver's Travels / Existence and Indifference
With tools made of these flints, they likewise cut their hay, and reap their oats, which there grow naturally in several fields; the _Yahoos_ draw hom...
The War of the Worlds / Disorder and Decay
Outside, the soil was banked high against the house. At the top of the window frame we could see an uprooted drainpipe.
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Illuminated Geology
It was a glorious sight to see how the electric light brought out the sparkles in the walls of the calcareous rocks, and the old red sandstone. One mi...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Bad Season Exploration
It was then the bad season in Australia, the July of that zone corresponding to our January in Europe, but the sea was beautiful and easily scanned ro...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Hunting Adventures
The Canadian skinned and cleaned it properly, after having taken half a dozen cutlets, destined to furnish us with a grilled repast in the evening. Th...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Chaos and Isolation
There is a constant emission of light from the storm clouds; the electric matter is incessantly released; evidently the gaseous principles of the air ...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Colonial Contrasts
From hence I went to the house of the Governor--a mere hut in comparison with the Mansion House of Hamburg--but a palace alongside the other Icelandic...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Confusion and Control
Fix, it must be confessed, understood nothing of what was going on. The conquest of the “Henrietta,” the bribery of the crew, Fogg managing the boat l...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Uncharted Territories
"Yes, you have no idea how many unknown mountains, glaciers, volcanoes there are which remain to be studied. Without moving from where we sit, I can s...
Gulliver's Travels / Civilization vs Savagery
This is enough to say upon the subject of my diet, wherewith other travellers fill their books, as if the readers were personally concerned whether we...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Natures Bounty
The rain has fallen in abundance, and filled the hollows of the granite. There is a rich supply of water, and we have no fear of suffering from thirst...
Dracula / Isolation and Grief
If you could have looked into my very heart then when I want to laugh; if you could have done so when the laugh arrived; if you could do so now, when ...
Gulliver's Travels / Nature and Illusion
These fields were intermingled with woods of half a stang, [301] and the tallest trees, as I could judge, appeared to be seven feet high. I viewed the...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Exploration and Knowledge
We began to hope that we should find some of those saurians which science has succeeded in reconstructing from bits of bone or cartilage. I took up th...
Gulliver's Travels / Eccentric Ambitions
Every room has in it one or more projectors; and I believe I could not be in fewer than five hundred rooms. The first man I saw was of a meagre aspect...
The War of the Worlds / Natures Sublime Encounter
The thought that had flashed into my mind grew real, grew credible. I felt no fear, only a wild, trembling exultation, as I ran up the hill towards th...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Observation and Discovery
Conseil and I remained to survey the shore, observing and studying until five o’clock. Then I went to bed, not, however, without invoking, like the In...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Oceanic Terrors
There rose high submarine cliffs covered with large weeds. It was about eleven o’clock when Ned Land drew my attention to a formidable pricking, like ...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Obstacles of Progress
“Yes, but it’s on the other side of the river.” “And can’t we cross that in a boat?” asked the colonel. It is a rapid, and we shall have to make a cir...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Intuition and Survival
Several times I passed my hand across the rock hoping to find some trace of humidity--of the slightest percolation. It now became evident that the hun...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Rationality and Fear
If, then, the steam remains in its normal or habitual state, if their energy does not increase, and if you add to this, the remark that the wind is no...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Chase of the Cetacean
The _Abraham Lincoln_, propelled by her wonderful screw, went straight at the animal. The latter allowed it to come within half a cable’s length; then...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Depths of Knowledge
Then, addressing me as if to chase away some sorrowful thought: “M. Aronnax,” he asked, “do you know the depth of the ocean?” “I only know, Captain, w...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Gibraltar Currents
On the 18th of February, about three o’clock in the morning, we were at the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar. There once existed two currents: an ...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Volcanic Exploration
Nevertheless, it appeared quite clear to me, that we were not in the principal chimney of the volcano, but in an accessory conduit, where we felt the ...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Marine Mysteries
“No,” replied the Canadian; “for this is whole, and the other had lost its tail.” “That is no reason,” I replied. “The arms and tails of these animals...
Frankenstein / Journey of Despair
Six years had passed since then: _I_ was a wreck, but nought had changed in those savage and enduring scenes. I performed the first part of my journey...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Fatigue and Nature
What could be the cause of this--to what atmospheric agitation could be ascribed this draught? But this was a question which I did not care to discuss...
Around the World in Eighty Days / Natures Fury
At a less advanced season of the year the typhoon, according to a famous meteorologist, would have passed away like a luminous cascade of electric fla...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Reflections on Prehistory
All day my thoughts were bent upon these speculations, and my imagination scarcely regained a degree of calmness and power of reflection until after a...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Natures Enchantment
But that which served as steps under our feet became in other places stalactites. The lava, very porous in certain places, took the form of little rou...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Desperation at Sea
But on the 11th of April it rose suddenly, and land appeared at the mouth of the Amazon River, a vast estuary, the embouchure of which is so considera...
Dracula / Dichotomy of Silence
the same thing happened--violent all day then quiet from moonrise to sunrise.
Frankenstein / Existential Struggle
The mere presence of the idea was an irresistible proof of the fact. I thought of pursuing the devil; but it would have been in vain, for another flas...
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth / Breath of Freedom
Moreover, the vivacity of the dense atmosphere reanimated my body by inflating my lungs with unaccustomed oxygen. It will be readily conceived that af...
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea / Marine Diversity
As to the fauna, it might be counted by thousands of crustacea of all sorts, lobsters, crabs, spider-crabs, chameleon shrimps, and a large number of s...
Pride and Prejudice / Gratitude and Justice
I thank you again and again, for not going to the Lakes. Perhaps other people have said so before, but no one with such justice.