From the Earth to the moon; and, round the moon quotes

It is better for us to see the destination we wish to reach, than the point of departure.

— Barbicane · III. THEIR PLACE OF SHELTER

Distance is but a relative expression, and must end by being reduced to zero.

— Spoken by a character · XIX. A MONSTER MEETING

Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word “impossible” is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise. Between Barbicane’s proposition and its realization no true Yankee would have allowed even the semblance of a difficulty to be possible. A thing with them is no sooner said than done.

What human being would ever have conceived the idea of such a journey? and, if such a person really existed, he must be an idiot, whom one would shut up in a lunatic ward, rather than within the walls of the projectile.

“Cheers for Edgar Poe!”

— Spoken by a character · II. PRESIDENT BARBICANE’S COMMUNICATION

The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth.

Now when an American has an idea, he directly seeks a second American to share it. If there be three, they elect a president and two secretaries. Given four, they name a keeper of records, and the office is ready for work; five, they convene a general meeting, and the club is fully constituted.

Fancy has depicted men without reflection, others without shadow. But here reality, by the neutralizations of attractive forces, produced men in whom nothing had any weight, and who weighed nothing themselves.

Nothing is more dreadful than private duels in America. The two adversaries attack each other like wild beasts. Then it is that they might well covet those wonderful properties of the Indians of the prairies—their quick intelligence, their ingenious cunning, their scent of the enemy.

There is no one among you, my brave colleagues, who has not seen the Moon, or, at least, heard speak of it.

— Spoken by a character · II. PRESIDENT BARBICANE’S COMMUNICATION

Gentlemen,” resumed the orator, “I repeat that the distance between the earth and her satellite is a mere trifle, and undeserving of serious consideration. I am convinced that before twenty years are over one-half of our earth will have paid a visit to the moon.

— Spoken by a character · XIX. A MONSTER MEETING

If Providence has created the stars and the planets, man has called the cannon-ball into existence.

— Spoken by a character · VII. THE HYMN OF THE CANNON-BALL

“Time has no business to keep a whole country in suspense,” replied the orator.

— Spoken by a character · XVIII. THE PASSENGER OF THE ATLANTA