Cover of Around the World in Eighty Days

Book Highlights

Around the World in Eighty Days

by Jules Verne

What it's about

This story follows the calculated and stoic Phileas Fogg as he attempts to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days to win a high-stakes wager. It explores the tension between rigid planning and the unpredictable nature of global travel.

Key ideas

  • Human ingenuity: Any feat imagined by the mind is within the realm of possibility to execute.
  • The value of persistence: Even when success seems impossible, a solution can appear at the final moment.
  • Defining success: The true reward of a grand journey is often not the achievement of the goal itself, but the personal connections made along the way.
  • Methodical living: A well-used minimum of resources and time is often enough to accomplish even the most ambitious tasks.

You'll love this book if...

  • You enjoy historical adventure stories that prioritize wit and logic over brute force.
  • You're looking for a brisk, satisfying tale about how human determination interacts with the chaos of the world.

Best for

Readers who appreciate a fast-paced narrative about precision, problem-solving, and the unexpected rewards of stepping outside one's comfort zone.

Books with the same vibe

  • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  • The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
  • Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

60 popular highlights from this book

Key Insights & Memorable Quotes

The most popular highlights from Around the World in Eighty Days, saved by readers on Screvi.

Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.
One could mention many lovable traits in Smee. For instance, after killing, it was his spectacles he wiped instead of his weapon.
The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment.
I don't want to go to school and learn solemn things.
I see that it is by no means useless to travel, if a man wants to see something new
But what then? What had he really gained by all this trouble? What had he brought back from this long and weary journey?Nothing, you say? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming woman, who, strange as it may appear, made him the happiest of men!Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?
Two is the beginning of the end.
Peter was not with them for the moment, and they felt rather lonely up there by themselves. He could go so much faster than they that he would suddenly shoot out of sight, to have some adventure in which they had no share. He would come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had been saying to a star, but he had already forgotten what it was, or he would come up with mermaid scales still sticking to him, and yet not be able to to say for certain what had been happening. It was really rather irritating to children who had never seen a mermaid.
Why, you are a man of heart!""Sometimes," replied Phileas Fogg, quietly. "When I have the time.
And so when Mrs. Darling went back to the night-nursery to see if her husband was asleep, all the beds were occupied. The children waited for her cry of joy, but it did not come. She saw them, but she did not believe they were there. You see, she saw them in their beds so often in her dreams that she thought this was just the dream hanging around her still.
Every child is affected thus the first time he is treated unfairly . All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness. After you have been unfair to him he will love you again, but will never afterwards be the same boy. No one ever gets over the first unfairness; no one except Peter. He often met it, but he always forgot it. I suppose that was the real difference between him and all the rest.
no matter how hard we try to be mature, we will always be a kid when we all get hurt and cry
A true Englishman doesn't joke when he is talking about so serious a thing as a wager.
When she expressed a doubtful hope that Tinker Bell would be glad to see her, he said, ‘Who is Tinker Bell?’ ‘O Peter,’ she said, shocked; but even when she explained he could not remember. ‘There are such a lot of them,’ he said. ‘I expect she is no more.’ I expect he was right, for fairies don’t live long, but they are so little that a short time seems a good while to them.
Will they reach the nursery in time? If so, how delightful for them, and we shall all breathe a sigh of relief, but there will be no story. On the other hand, if they are not in time, I solemnly promise that it will all come right in the end.
Mrs. Darling loved to have everything just so, and Mr. Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbours; so, of course, they had a nurse. As they were poor, owing to the amount of milk the children drank, this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana, who had belonged to no one in particular until the Darlings engaged her. She had always thought children important, however, and the Darlings had become acquainted with her in Kensington Gardens, where she spent most of her spare time peeping into perambulators, and was much hated by careless nursemaids, whom she followed to their homes and complained of to their mistresses. She proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse.
It may have been quixotic, but it was magnificent.
However, as we are here we may as well stay and look on. That is all we are, lookers-on. Nobody really wants us. So let us watch and say jaggy things, in the hope that some of them will hurt.
Of course the Neverlands vary a good deal. John’s, for instance, had a lagoon with flamingos flying over it at which John was shooting, while Michael, who was very small, had a flamingo with lagoons flying over it. John lived in a boat turned upside down on the sands, Michael in a wigwam, Wendy in a house of leaves deftly sewn together. John had no friends, Michael had friends at night, Wendy had a pet wolf forsaken by its parents...
Two small figures were beating against the rock; the girl had fainted and lay on the the boy's arm. With a last effort Peter pulled her up the rock and then lay down beside her. Even as he also fainted he saw that the water was raising, He knew that they would soon be drowned, but he could do no more.As they lay side by side a mermaid caught Wendy by the feet, and began pulling her softly into the water. Peter feeling her slip from him, woke with a start, and was just in time to draw her back. But he had to tell her the truth."We are on the rock, Wendy," he said, "but it is growing smaller. Soon the water will be over it."She did not understand even now."We must go," she said, almost brightly."Yes," he answered faintly."Shall we swim or fly, Peter?"He had to tell her."Do you think you could swim or fly as far as the island, Wendy, without my help?"She had to admit she was too tired.He moaned."What is it?" she asked, anxious about him at once."I can't help you, Wendy. Hook wounded me. I can neither fly nor swim.""Do you mean we shall both be downed?""Look how the water is raising."They put their hands over their eyes to shut out the sight. They thought they would soon be no more. As they sat thus something brushed against Peter as light as a kiss, and stayed there, as if to say timidly, "Can I be of any us?" It was the tail of a kite, which Michael had made some days before. It had torn itself out of his hand and floated away."Michael's kite," Peter said without interest, but the next moment he had seized the tail, and was pulling the kite towards him."It lifted Michael off the ground," he cried; "why should it not carry you?""Both of us!""It can't left two; Michael and Curly tried.""Let us draw lots," Wendy said bravely."And you a lady; never." Already he had tied the tail round her. She clung to him; she refused to go without him; but with a "Good-bye, Wendy." he pushed her from the rock; and in a few minutes she was borne out of his sight. Peter was alone on the lagoon.The rock was very small now; soon it would be submerged. Pale rays of light tiptoed across the waters; and by and by there was to be heard a sound at once the most musical and the most melancholy in the world: the mermaids calling to the moon.
He looked at her uncomfortably; blinking, you know, like one not sure whether he was awake or asleep.
astonishing splashes of colour
The difference between him and the other boys at such a time was that they knew it was make-believe, while to hime make-believe and true were exactly the same thing. This sometimes troubled them, as when they had to make-believe that they had had their dinners.
Peter had seen many tragedies, but he had forgotten them all.
It may be taken for granted that, rash as the Americans are, when they are prudent there is good reason for it.
A well-used minimum suffices for everything.
Next moment he was standing erect on the rock again, with that smile on his face and a drum beating within him. It was saying, "To die will be an awfully big adventure.
I think it's perfectly lovely the way you talk about girls...
As you look at Wendy you may see her hair becoming white, and her figure little again, for all this happened long ago. Jane is now a common grown-up, with a daughter called Margaret; and every spring-cleaning time, except when he forgets,Peter comes for Margaret and takes her to Neverland, where she tells him stories about himself, to which he listens eagerly. When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter, who is to be Peter's mother in turn; and so it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.
No, no," Mr. Darling always said, "I am responsible for it all. I, George Darling, did it. MEA CULPA, MEA CULPA." He had had a classical education.

Find Another Book

Search by title or author to explore highlights from other books.

Try it with your highlights

Create your account, add your highlights and see how Screvi can change the way you read.

Try It With Your Highlights14-day free trial. No credit card required.