More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
He appeared to possess in a very marked degree that attribute which physiognomists call "repose in action," a faculty appertaining to those whose motto is "Deeds, not words." Calm and phlegmatic, with a clear and steady eye, he was the perfect type of those cool Englishmen whom one meets so frequently in the United Kingdom,
He was the last man in the world to hurry himself, but he always arrived in time. He lived quite alone, and, so to speak, outside the social scale. He knew that in life there is a great deal of friction; and as friction always retards progress, he never rubbed against anybody.
He wore his hair in a somewhat tumbled fashion. If sculptors of antiquity were aware of eighteen ways of arranging the hair of Minerva, Passe-partout knew but one way of doing his, namely, with three strokes of a comb.
"Well," said Stuart, "I maintain that the chances are in favour of the thief, who must be a sharp one." "But," replied Ralph, "there is no place a fellow can go to." "Oh, come!" "Well, where can he go to?" "I can't tell," replied Stuart; "but the world is big enough, at any rate." "It used to be," said Phileas Fogg, in an undertone.
"What do you mean by 'used to be?' Has the world grown smaller, then?" "Of course it has," replied Ralph. "I am of Mr. Fogg's opinion; the world has grown smaller, inasmuch as one can go round it ten times quicker than you could a hundred years ago. That is the reason why, in the present case, search will be more rapid, and render the escape of the thief easier."
"I must say, Mr. Ralph," he continued, "that you have found an easy way that the world has grown smaller, because one now go round it in three months." "In eighty days only," said Phileas Fogg. "That is a fact, gentlemen," added John Sullivan. "You can make the tour of the world in eighty days, now that the section of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway is opened between Rothal and Allahabad, and here is the estimate made by The Morning Chronicle: London to Suez, by Mont Cenis and Brindisi, Rail and Steamer . . . 7 days. Suez to Bombay, by Steamer . . . 13 " Bombay to Calcutta, by Rail . . . 3
...more
"Yes, eighty days!" exclaimed Stuart, who, being absorbed in his calculations, made a mis-deal; "but that estimate does not take inter consideration bad weather, head-winds, shipwreck, railway accidents, &c." "They are all included," remarked Fogg, as he continued to play, for this time the conversation did not cease with the deal. "Even if the Hindoos or Indians take up the rails? Suppose they stop the trains, pillage the baggage-waggons, and scalp the travellers?" "All included," replied Fogg quietly.
"But, Mr. Fogg, this estimate of eighty days is the very least time in which the journey can be accomplished." "A minimum well employed is quite sufficient." "But to succeed you must pass from railways to steamers, from steamers to railways, with mathematical accuracy." "I will be mathematically accurate." "Oh, this is a joke!" "A true Englishman never jokes when he has a stake depending on the matter. I bet twenty thousand against any of you that I will make the tour of the world in eighty days or less; that is to say, in nineteen hundred and twenty hours, or a hundred and fifteen thousand
...more
Alabama Claims
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Claims
For the first few days after his departure a good deal of money was laid on the success or failure of the enterprise. Everyone knows that people in England are great gamblers; it comes natural to them. So the public all went into the speculation. Phileas Fogg became a sort of favourite, as in horse-racing. He was of a certain value on the Stock Exchange. Fogg bonds were offered at par or at a premium, and enormous speculations were entered into. But five days after his departure, subsequently to the appearance of the article above quoted, the bonds were at a discount, and they were offered to
...more
"If the thing can be done, the first man to do it ought to be an Englishman."
The honourable man gave place to the "bank-robber." His photograph, deposited in the Reform Club with those of other members, was narrowly scrutinised. It appeared to be, feature by feature, the very man whose description had been already furnished to the police. People now began to recollect Fogg's mysterious manner, his solitary habits, and his sudden departure. He must be the culprit, and it was evident that under the pretext of a voyage round the world, under shelter of a ridiculous bet, he had no other end in view but to throw the detectives off the scent.
"Great criminals always do resemble honest men," replied the detective dogmatically. "You must understand that ruffianly-looking fellows would not have a chance. They must remain honest or they would be arrested at once. It is the honest appearance that we are obliged to unmask; it is a difficult thing, I confess, and one that really is an art."
The majority of the passengers from Brindisi were bound for India, some for Calcutta, some for Bombay; and since the railway crosses the peninsula it is not necessary to go round by Ceylon.
Bab-el-Mandeb.
The Bab-el-Mandeb (Arabic: باب المندب, lit. 'Gate of Lamentation',[1] Tigrinya: ባብ ኣል ማንዳብ[citation needed]), or the Gate of Grief, is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The proprietor of the hotel particularly recommended "a native rabbit." Phileas accepted the dish as put before him, but found it horrible. He rang the bell. The landlord was sent for. "Is that a rabbit?" inquired Mr. Fogg. "Yes, my lord, a jungle rabbit." "Has that rabbit never mewed, do you think?" "Oh, my lord, a jungle-rabbit mew! I swear—" "Don't swear," said Fogg calmly, "and remember that formerly cats were sacred animals in India. Those were happy days." "For the cats, my lord?" "And perhaps for travellers too," said Fogg, as he proceeded with his dinner.
He never travelled. He merely made a track across country. He was a heavy body, describing an orbit around the terrestrial globe, according to certain mechanical laws.
At that time he was actually engaged in calculating how many hours had passed since he left London, and he would have rubbed his hands joyfully, had he been one of those people who indulge in these needless enthusiastic demonstrations.
The general saw nothing in this wager but the eccentricity of its surroundings, and the want of transire benefaciendo which ought to guide any reasonable man. If this extraordinary man went on in this manner all his life, he would finally quit the world, having done absolutely nothing for his own benefit or for that of others.
Literally "beneficial passage." Mentioned in "The Seamy Side of History" (L'envers de l'histoire contemporaine, 1848), part of La Comédie humaine, by Honoré de Balzac, and Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne.
So he was much more restless than Mr. Fogg, because less phlegmatic.
He endeavoured to convince the valet that he ought to regulate his watch by each new meridian, and as he was still going east the days became shorter and shorter by four minutes for every degree.
Newspapers are so fond of anticipating, and in this case they had been decidedly premature in announcing the completion of the line.
They found that the animal was half domesticated; it had originally been purchased for a fighting elephant, not for carrying purposes. With this end in view, the owner had begun to alter the naturally placid disposition of the beast by irritating him, and getting him gradually up to that pitch of fury called "mutsh" by the Hindoos, and this is done by feeding the elephant on sugar and butter for three months.
The elephant was got ready without delay. The Parsee was quite skilled in the business of a "mahout." He placed a sort of saddle on the elephant's back, and at each end of it he fixed a small howdah.
Allahabad was thence only a dozen miles off in a north-easterly direction. They halted once more under a banana-tree, the fruit of which, as wholesome as bread and "as succulent as cream," as they said, was highly appreciated by our travellers.
"Well, I declare you are a man with a heart in the right place," cried Sir Francis. "Sometimes it is," replied Mr. Fogg, smiling grimly, "when I have time!"
This offer the lady moat gratefully accepted,
Hong Kong is only an island, which fell into the possession of the English by the Treaty of Nankin, in 1843.
Fix and Passe-partout perceived that they had entered a smoking-house, patronised by those wretched idiots devoted to one of the most injurious vices of humanity—the smoking of opium, which the English merchants sell every year to the value of one million four hundred thousand pounds. The Chinese Government has vainly endeavoured by stringent laws to remedy the evil, but in vain. The habit has descended from the rich to the poorest classes, and now opium is smoked everywhere at all times by men and women, and those accustomed to it cannot do without it A great smoker can consume eight pipes a
...more
It was evident, however, that Mr. Fogg was of that race of Britons who, though they do not permit duelling at home, fight in foreign countries when their honour is in any way attacked.
Government is persecuting Brigham Young
During his time as church president, Young led his followers, the Mormon pioneers, west from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Salt Lake Valley. He founded Salt Lake City and served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also worked to establish the learning institutions that would later become the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. A polygamist, Young had at least 56 wives and 57 children. He instituted a ban prohibiting conferring the priesthood on men of black African descent, and led the church in the Utah War against the United States.[4]
continued his tale respecting Joe Smith, his bankruptcy, his tarring and feathering, his reappearance at Independence, Missouri, as the head of a flourishing community of about three thousand disciples, his pursuit, and settlement in the Far West.
Lake Asphaltites,
"But," she continued, "how can you bear to look upon the fate in store for you?" "As I always look at everything," replied Mr. Fogg; "in the best way I can."
