The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

DOUGLAS ADAMS is the author of THE ULTIMATE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE - a wonderful collection of 5 comical sci-fi books written in a unique, precise manner. All quotes on this page are by Douglas Adams.

                                    An unofficial tribute to Douglas Adams.
*  the books:    The Hitchhiler's Guide to the Galaxy;  The Restaurant at the End of the Universe;  Life, the Universe and Everything;  So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish;,  Mostly Harmless  *

“I just took my mind off the hook for a bit. I reckoned that if the world wanted me badly enough it would call me back. It did.”

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"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."

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“The point is, you see,” said Ford, “that there is no point in driving yourself mad trying to stop yourself going mad. You might just as well give in and save your sanity for later.”

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“The Guide days that 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.” He smiled weakly. “I haven’t done very well so far,” he said.

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In an infinite universe, anything is possible.

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster.
It says that the effect of drinking a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. The Guide also tells you on which planets the best Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters are mixed, how much you can expect to pay for one and what voluntary organizations exist to help you to rehabilitate afterwards.

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Ford Prefect was desperate that any flying saucer at all would arrive soon because fifteen years was a long time to get stranded anywhere, particularly somewhere as mind-bogglingly dull as the Earth. Ford wished that a flying saucer would arrive soon because he knew how to flag flying saucers down and get lifts from them. He knew how to see the Marvels of the Universe for less than thirty Altairian dollars a day. In fact, Ford Prefect was a roving researcher for that wholly remarkable book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

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A towel...is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.

POPULATION [of the universe]: None. It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds but that not every one is inhabited. Therefore there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds. So, if every planet in the universe has a population of zero, then the entire population of the universe must also be zero, and any people you may actually meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.
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“Voon,” said the mattress.          -D. A.

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The only thing he could think was that they were obviously going to die, and if he wanted anything other that the obvious to happen he was going to have to do something other than the obvious. Here he felt he was on familiar territory.

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Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. 

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I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.  
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He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
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There is a theory which states that if ever anybody 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 theory which states that this has already happened.