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Professor Otto Lidenbrock
Hans is an Icelandic eider-duck hunter whom Lidenbrock employs to guide himself and Axel on their journey. He is unflappably stoic, revealing little emotion for the entirety of his time with Lidenbrock and Axel. He faces life-threatening dangers with no sign of fear or distress, and he never appears frustrated with his employers for any of their decisions. In fact, Hans is unyieldingly loyal to Lidenbrock. Whenever Axel tries to entreat Hans to leave with him or side against Lidenbrock, Hans refuses. Hans also provides practical aid to the theory-minded Axel and Lidenbrock. His quick thinking and pragmatism allow him to save the men from dehydration by digging through a wall for the water inside. The men name this subterranean spring the Hansbach in his honor. While Axel and Lidenbrock quarrel over the science behind their adventure, Hans remains focused on keeping the group alive. At the end of the novel, when the men emerge safely from underground, Hans smiles for the first time.
Hans Bjelke Quotes in Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Journey to the Center of the Earth quotes below are all either spoken by Hans Bjelke or refer to Hans Bjelke. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 15
Quotes
As a true nephew of Professor Lidenbrock, and notwithstanding my mental preoccupation, I was interested in observing the mineralogical curiosities displayed in this vast cabinet of natural history, and, at the same time, was going over in my mind the whole geological history of Iceland.
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Chapter 16
Quotes
I was on the summit of one of the twin peaks of Snäffel […]. I commanded a view of almost the whole island. […] I could have said that one of Helbesmer’s relievo maps lay before me. […] precipices seemed mere walls, lakes changed into ponds, and rivers were little streams. On my right there were glaciers without number, and innumerable peaks […].
[…] I forgot who I was, and where I was […]. I gave myself to the luxury of the heights […].
Chapter 24
Quotes
The stream ran murmuring softly at our feet. I compared it to some kindly genius, who was guiding us underground, and I caressed with my hand the warm Naiad whose songs accompanied our steps.
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Chapter 25
Quotes
We were quite fit for this existence of troglodytes. I scarcely thought of sun, or stars, or moon, or trees, or houses, or towns, or any of those terrestrial superfluities which are necessary to sublunary beings. We were fossils now, and thought such useless marvels absurd.
Chapter 28
Quotes
How long this state of insensibility had lasted I cannot say, I had no longer any means of reckoning time. Never was solitude like mine, never was abandonment so absolute.
Chapter 32
Quotes
The whole fossil world lives again in my imagination. I go back in fancy to the biblical epoch of creation, long before the advent of man, when the imperfect earth was not fitted to sustain him. Then still further back, when no life existed. […] All life was concentrated in me, my heart alone beat in a depopulated world.
Chapter 42
Quotes
From that moment our reason, our judgment, our ingenuity went for nothing, we were to be the playthings of the elements.
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Hans Bjelke Quotes in Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Journey to the Center of the Earth quotes below are all either spoken by Hans Bjelke or refer to Hans Bjelke. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 15
Quotes
As a true nephew of Professor Lidenbrock, and notwithstanding my mental preoccupation, I was interested in observing the mineralogical curiosities displayed in this vast cabinet of natural history, and, at the same time, was going over in my mind the whole geological history of Iceland.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16
Quotes
I was on the summit of one of the twin peaks of Snäffel […]. I commanded a view of almost the whole island. […] I could have said that one of Helbesmer’s relievo maps lay before me. […] precipices seemed mere walls, lakes changed into ponds, and rivers were little streams. On my right there were glaciers without number, and innumerable peaks […].
[…] I forgot who I was, and where I was […]. I gave myself to the luxury of the heights […].
Chapter 24
Quotes
The stream ran murmuring softly at our feet. I compared it to some kindly genius, who was guiding us underground, and I caressed with my hand the warm Naiad whose songs accompanied our steps.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25
Quotes
We were quite fit for this existence of troglodytes. I scarcely thought of sun, or stars, or moon, or trees, or houses, or towns, or any of those terrestrial superfluities which are necessary to sublunary beings. We were fossils now, and thought such useless marvels absurd.
Chapter 28
Quotes
How long this state of insensibility had lasted I cannot say, I had no longer any means of reckoning time. Never was solitude like mine, never was abandonment so absolute.
Chapter 32
Quotes
The whole fossil world lives again in my imagination. I go back in fancy to the biblical epoch of creation, long before the advent of man, when the imperfect earth was not fitted to sustain him. Then still further back, when no life existed. […] All life was concentrated in me, my heart alone beat in a depopulated world.
Chapter 42
Quotes
From that moment our reason, our judgment, our ingenuity went for nothing, we were to be the playthings of the elements.
