Quotes from Douglas Adams

The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.

Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now?

Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.

Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?

The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.

The major problem— one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must 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.

He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.

I'd far rather be happy than right any day.

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.

If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young." "Why, what did she tell you?" "I don't know, I didn't listen.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.

I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. 'I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.

Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.

Everybody has their moment of great opportunity in life. If you happen to miss the one you care about, then everything else becomes eerily easy.

The Answer to the Great Question... Of Life, the Universe and Everything... Is... Forty-two,' said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

If life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion.

Funny, how just when you think life can't possibly get any worse it suddenly does.

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