Quotes from Douglas Adams

Some of the most revolutionary new ideas come from spotting something old to leave out rather than thinking of something new to put in.

I don't know, apathetic bloody planet, I've no sympathy at all.

Only a child sees things with perfect clarity, because it hasn't developed all those filters which prevent us from seeing things that we don't expect to see.

This Arthur Dent, comes the cry from the furthest reaches of the galaxy, and has even now been found inscribed on a mysterious deep space probe thought to originate from an alien galaxy at a distance too hideous to contemplate, what is he, man or mouse? Is he interested in nothing more than tea and the wider issues of life? Has he no spirit? has he no passion? Does he not, to put it in a nutshell, fuck?

We can't win against obsession. They care, we don't. They win.

He was a man with a purpose. Not a very good purpose, as he would have been the first to admit, but it was at least a purpose, and it did at least keep him on the move.

In the beginning the Universe was created. This had made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

Resumamos: es un hecho bien conocido que las personas que más deseos tienen de gobernar a la gente son, ipso facto, las menos adecuadas para ello. Abreviemos el resumen: a cualquiera que sea capaz de nombrarse Presidente a sí mismo, no debería permitírsele en modo alguno realizar dicha tarea. Abreviemos el resumen del resumen: la gente es un problema.

I could have more fun in cat litter.

One of the characteristics that laymen find most odd about zoologists is their insatiable enthusiasm for animal droppings. I can understand, of course, that the droppings yield a great deal of information about the habits and diets of the animals concerned, but nothing quite explains the sheer glee that the actual objects seem to inspire.

Kate wondered for a moment how it was that eyes conveyed such an immense amount of information about their owners. They were, after all, merely spheres of white gristle. They hardly changed as they got older, apart from getting a bit redder and a bit runnier. The iris opened and closed a bit, but that was all. Where did this flood of information come from?

The term fed up actually comes from falconry. When you train a falcon, you train it by hunger, using it as a tool to manipulate the bird's psychology. So when the bird has had too much to eat, it won't cooperate and gets annoyed by any attempts to tell it what to do. It simply sits in the top of a tree and sulks. It is fed up.

What's up?" "I don't know," said Marvin, "I've never been there.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this to say on the subject of flying. There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

This is flight 121 to Los Angeles. If your travel plans today do not include Los Angeles, now would be the perfect time to disembark.

He suddenly exploded in a flurry of arms and legs, out of which flew a ball.

People often ask where I get my ideas from, sometimes as often as eighty-seven times a day. This is a well-known hazard for writers, and the correct response to the question is first to breathe deeply, steady your heartbeat, fill your mind with peaceful, calming images of birdsong and buttercups in spring meadows, and then try to say, It's very interesting you ask that... before breaking down and start to whimper uncontrollably.

You're really not going to like it, observed Deep Thought. Tell us! All right, said Deep Thought. The answer to the Great Question... Yes...! Of Life, the Universe and Everything... said Deep Thought. Yes...! Is... said Deep Thought, and paused. Yes...! Is... Yes...!!!...? Forty-two, said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

Hey, er ... said Zaphod, what's your name? The man looked at them doubtfully. I don't know. Why, do you think I should have one? It seems very odd to give a bundle of vague sensory perceptions a name.

No, said Arthur, no, he added thoughtfully. No, he added again, even more thoughtfully. What? he said at last.

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another which states that this has already happened.

Shit!" yelled Arthur as helpfully as he could.

One of the main problems encountered in time travel is not that of accidentally becoming your own father or mother. There is no problem involved in becoming your own father or mother that a broadminded and well-adjusted family can't cope with.

Life, will be a very great deal less weird without you!