- Captain Nemo: I am not what is called a civilized man, Professor. I have done with society for reasons that seem good to me. Therefore, I do not obey its laws.
- Captain Nemo: Think of it. On the surface there is hunger and fear. Men still exercise unjust laws. They fight, tear one another to pieces. A mere few feet beneath the waves their reign ceases, their evil drowns. Here on the ocean floor is the only independence. Here I am free! Imagine what would happen if they controlled machines such as this submarine boat. Far better that they think there's a monster and hunt me with harpoons.
- Captain Nemo: ...there is hope for the future. When the world is ready for a new and better life, all this will someday come to pass, in God's good time.
- [Observing the slave island]
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: What is in those sacks they are carrying?
- Captain Nemo: Nitrates and phosphate for ammunition. The seeds of war. They're loading a full cargo of death. And when that ship takes it home the world will die a little more. I was once one of those pitiful wretches you see down there. Look at it again, Professor, I don't want you to forget what you've seen here today.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: I've seen enough.
- Captain Nemo: It's burned everlastingly in my memory.
- Ned Land: [singing] Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads, a whale of a tale or two, 'bout the floppin' fish and the girls I've loved on nights like this with the moon above. A whale of a tale and it's all true, I swear by my tattoo. There was Mermaid Minnie; met her down in Madagascar. She would kiss me anytime that I would ask her. Then one evening, her flame of love blew out. Blow me down and pick me up, she swapped me for a trout!
- Captain Nemo: Mr. Land, you saved my life. Why?
- Ned Land: That's a good question. Well, there's only one thing a fella can do when he's made a mistake as big as this.
- Conseil: What?
- Ned Land: Get drunk!
- Ned Land: [singing] Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads, a whale of a tale or two, 'bout the floppin' fish and the girls I've loved on nights like this with the moon above. A whale of a tale and it's all true, I swear by my tattoo. There was Typhoon Tessie; met her on the coast of Java. When we kissed, I bubbled up like molten lava. Then she gave me the scare of my young life. Blow me down and pick me up, she was the captain's wife!
- Ned Land: There's one thing you ought to know, Professor: Nemo's cracked. I've yet to see the day you can make a deal with a mad dog. So while you're feeding him sugar, I'll be figuring a plan to muzzle him.
- Captain Nemo: Accept one of these cigars, Professor.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Thank you.
- [He lights it]
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Delightful smoke. Different somehow. Havana?
- Captain Nemo: Seaweed.
- Captain Nemo: Do you know the meaning of love, Professor?
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: I believe I do.
- Captain Nemo: What you fail to understand is the power of hate. It can fill the heart as surely as love can.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: I'm sorry for you. It's a bitter substitute.
- Captain Nemo: The natives over there are cannibals. They eat liars with the same enthusiasm as they eat honest men.
- Captain Nemo: [Noticing that Ned is eating with his knife] There's a fork on your left, Mr. Land. Or aren't you accustomed to utensils?
- Ned Land: Oh, I'm indifferent to 'em.
- Captain Nemo: I asked you to leave, Professor.
- Prof. Pierre Arronax: You also asked me ashore, to show me man's inhumanity to man. Why? To justify this? You are not only a murderer, you are a hypocrite! The proof lies out there!
- Captain Nemo: [anguished] YOU CALL THAT MURDER? Well, I see murder, too, not written on those drowned faces out there, but on the faces of dead thousands! They are the assassins, the dealers in death; I am the avenger!
- [Boarding the Nautilus for the first time]
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: There is great genius behind all this.
- Conseil: Yes, and great evil. Don't forget this, this is an engine of destruction.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: A strange twilight world opened up before me, and I felt as the first man to set foot on another planet, an intruder in this mystic garden of the deep.
- [Upon arriving on a deserted beach with Ned Land]
- Conseil: I don't see any native girls hungry for affection.
- Captain Nemo: Would you care to come along, Professor?
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: No, thank you. The last time I went ashore it was a prelude to murder.
- [Ned cautiously samples his "pudding"]
- Ned Land: What is it?
- Captain Nemo: It's my own recipe: sauté of unborn octopus.
- Ned Land: [after Captain Farragut announces that he is ending the search] Cheer up, Professor. You'll forget all about fishing when you see the gals in Saigon.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: I thought they promised you a bonus if you harpooned this monster, Mr. Land.
- Ned Land: Knowing full well I couldn't collect it. When I get back, I'm shipping out on the first whaler that'll take me. I won't get rich, but I won't be sitting around picking my teeth with my harpoon.
- Conseil: Maybe we are lucky. It might have sunk us.
- Ned Land: You scare me. Be a good loser, Professor. The fish that got away is always the biggest one.
- Conseil: Ah, what a pity, Professor. I know you had visions of that monster mounted in the National Museum.
- Captain Nemo: Ah, we're almost at the island of Crespo. All this was once an island. Although it is now sunk, it is nevertheless fertile. We do our hunting and farming here.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Underwater?
- Captain Nemo: The sea supplies all my wants.
- Conseil: Cannibals! Hundreds of cannibals! Captain, Captain, scores of boats!
- Ned Land: Captain, we're under attack!
- Captain Nemo: Naturally, since you invaded their privacy, they have every right to invade ours.
- [last lines]
- Ned Land: [as Vulcania explodes] Sorry I had to wallop you, Professor. But there wasn't time to stop for souvenirs.
- Prof. Pierre Arronax: Perhaps you did mankind a service, Ned.
- Captain Nemo: You have a great deal to learn, Professor. Your book is brilliant... but it lacks scope. You have carried your work as far as terrestrial science permits. But the REAL story of the ocean depths begins where *you* left off. Wonders... that defy my powers of description... the secrets that are mine alone. Which I am willing to share with you.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: At the cost of my friends' lives?
- Captain Nemo: I'm sorry... but you'll have to choose between them and me.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: I cannot accept.
- Captain Nemo, Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Professor, I regret your choice.
- [to first mate]
- Captain Nemo, Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Take him up. Secure for sea.
- Sailor: [the warship's crew arrives too late to aid another ship after it explodes] I'm thinking she went down with all hands.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Poor devils. Not a living soul left. What could have caused such a fearsome explosion?
- Sailor: Black powder, and worse, a whole shipload of the stuff.
- Ned Land: What could have set it off, though? She must have struck something.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Or could it be that something struck the ship?
- Conseil: Why, Ned, you're not thinking of putting messages in these bottles, are you? That went out with Robinson Crusoe. You've forgotten this is the 19th Century.
- Ned Land: There's something else I forgot.
- [punches Conseil in the chin]
- Ned Land: That's for spyin' on me. Don't let me catch you paddin' the shadow of my stern again. Remember that!
- [Conseil rubs his chin, feelings hurt as well]
- Ned Land: I don't like bashin' anybody. But you had it comin', lad.
- Conseil: And I thought we were friends.
- Ned Land: Sure, we're friends! Go ahead, hit me.
- [sticks out his chin]
- Conseil: You mean that?
- Ned Land: [sticking his chin out further] Sure, go ahead! You can't miss it.
- [Conseil surprises Ned with a punch to the gut]
- Conseil: *Now* we're friends!
- Ned Land: Hey, Professor, where are ya going?
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: My journal!
- Ned Land: The island's gonna blow up any second!
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: I must get my journal!
- [Ned Land punches him and carries him out of the flooding chart room]
- Captain Nemo: Is murder a right reserved for that hated nation that has taken everything from me, everything but my secret, the secret of my submarine boat and the energy that propels it? They tried! They cast me into prison, and when they failed...! When they failed, they tortured my wife and young son to death.
- Shipping Agent: [first spoken lines] I say there ain't no monster! But, we need men. And just to treat you fair and square, I'm willing to give each of you two wages and a bonus, from Frisco to Shanghai and back, ALL FOUND!
- Casey Moore: ALL DEAD, you mean! Don't sign with him, Mates! You can't buy off the Monster with double wages and a bonus! You'll never get back to Frisco to collect your pay!
- Captain Nemo: Actually, he regrets saving my life just as much as I would regret saving his. The only difference is that I wouldn't have tried.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Then it is that difference that gives Ned Land the human dignity you no longer possess. May I tell you something?
- Captain Nemo: You seem determined to. Go ahead.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: You protest too much. I know you were deeply touched by Ned's gesture, but you are ashamed to admit it. You cannot tolerate a faith in humanity... because if you do, all this, the structure of your very existence, which you built on hate and vengeance... all this will collapse without the naked lie of your life. You are a beaten man, at war with the dictates of his heart.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: [while being locked into cabins] Goodbye, Ned.
- Ned Land: Don't give up, mates! We're no part of any suicide pact!
- Conseil: I believe things have gone far enough. Murder means nothing to him. I think he enjoys it.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: You're sure of that, are you? Quite sure?
- Conseil: Well, I can only judge him by what I observe.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: It is not your place to judge! You don't know anything about the captain. He has already said he has use for me. But what's more important, the world has a use for him. And I must make him understand it. And when he does, I assure you that he will judge himself far more harshly than you ever can. Is that clear?
- Conseil: Whatever you say, Captain.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Now, please go out and leave me alone.
- [pause]
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: What did you call me? Captain?
- Conseil: Yes, I did. And I must say, there is a certain resemblance.
- [leaves in anger]
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: As the voyage continued, the Nautilus and its motive power excited my curiosity. At my host's invitation, I inspected the ship. He seemed determined to show me everything. We went to the very heart of the vessel, the propulsion unit. It was apparent that Captain Nemo had discovered what mankind has always sought... the veritable, dynamic power of the universe. This secret alone gave him mastery of the sea.
- Professor Pierre Aronnax, narrator: Today we encountered a fearsome storm. An ordinary vessel would have suffered heavy damage. Safe and serene, the Nautilus cruised beneath the tempest.
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