Quotes from Douglas Adams

Zaphod sighed a "what is the world coming to" sort of sigh to absolve himself from all blame, and swung himself around in his seat. "Ship?" he called. "Yup?" said the ship. "Do what I do." The ship thought about this for a few milliseconds and then, after double checking all the seals on its heavy duty bulkheads, it began slowly, inexorably, in the hazy blaze of its lights, to sink to the lowest depths.

For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive—you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program.

Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason he had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did. "Zaphod," she said patiently

Life was, in short, ridiculously easy and for a while at least they were able to cope with the problems of aimlessness and isolation by deciding to ignore them.

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.

The man who invented the Total Perspective Vortex did so basically in order to annoy his wife.

Infinite Universe: Bigger than the biggest thing ever and then some. Much bigger than that in fact, really amazingly immense, a totally stunning size, real wow, that's big time. Infinity is just so big that by comparison, bigness itself looks really titchy. Gigantic multiplied by colossal multiplied by staggeringly huge is the sort of concept we're trying to get across here.

One of the joys of true happiness,' trilled the robot, 'is sharing. I brim, I froth, I overflow with . . .

What's he saying?" asked Trillian. "Nothing," said Zaphod, "he just phoned to wash his head at us.

You certainly don't fuck about trying to ride manta rays.

If such a thing is a virtual impossibility, then it must logically be a finite improbability.

it is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.

It had been late one night—of course. It had been a difficult day—of course. There had been soulful music playing on the ship's sound system—of course. And he had, of course, been slightly drunk. In other words, all the usual conditions that bring on a bout of soul-searching had applied, but it had, nevertheless, clearly been an error.

What sort of ship are we in?' asked Arthur as the pit of eternity yawned beneath them. 'I don't know,' said Ford, 'I haven't opened my eyes yet.

Kitaptaki bilgilerle gerçekler aras?nda önemli çeliÅŸkilerle kar??la??ld???nda, yanl?? olan taraf her zaman gerçeÄŸin kendisiydi.

He stumbled uncertainly after her. The encircling torch beams were drooping now slightly as if they were abdicating to this strange, quiet girl who alone in this Universe of dark confusion seemed to know what she was doing.

Wearily I sit here, pain and misery my only companions. And vast intelligence of course. And infinite sorrow.

After a few months' consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favour of a new one. If they don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working.

This had about a hundred tiny flat press buttons and a screen about four inches square on which any one of a million "pages" could be summoned at a moment's notice.

it is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.

You mean they actually vote for the lizards?" "Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course." "But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?" "Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?

Glapitonner: profondément ému par le récit d'une tragédie personnelle.

Look," said Arthur, "would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?" For

Douglas Adams: The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas-covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 millions miles away, and think this to be normal, is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be. (Helgoland, 117.)