- Prof. George Challenger: [Professor Summerlee has just had a bitter argument with Reverend Kerr over evolution: Professor Challanger has kept silent and divulged that his parents were deeply religous] Professor Challenger: One day I went to my father and asked him for a microscope. I can still remember the sadness in his eyes; he knew he had lost me then. But without even knowing it he had given me an even greater gift. He taught me humility in the face of nature. I don't know if there is a god; but I know man is no substitute if there isn't.
- Prof. George Challenger: You've been in a few scrapes, Roxton. Have you ever been in a situation worse than this?
- Lord John Phillip Roxton: Uh, well, let me see. No. No, I think I can quite safely say this is the least promising set-up I've ever encountered.
- Prof. George Challenger: Oh.
- Lord John Phillip Roxton: We have no way down off the plateau, and thanks to your insistence on secrecy, the only person who even has a clue where we are is a religious lunatic who seems quite happy to let us die here.
- Prof. George Challenger: Well, there's no need to be so cheerful about it.