# What is your favorite Douglas Adams quote? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502 "2003-12-07T04:55:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/1 "2003-12-07T04:55:50Z")
Recently there have been a few threads and posts that refer to Douglas Adams and some of the posters have included some quotes from his books or just things he’s said so I’d like to start a thread of everyone’s favorite Douglas Adams quote. I’ll start off with one of my personal favorites: “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” ---
**Author:** ![justplainDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@justplainDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justplainDave)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/2 "2003-12-07T05:02:24Z")
Great hair, **Frank** , and how’s the wife? My favorite quote is, "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 state that this as already happened." -Restaurant at the End of the Universe ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/3 "2003-12-07T05:05:34Z")
I _had_ a wife and then I discovered the SDMB! ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/4 "2003-12-07T05:08:47Z")
I love so many DA quotes, but something Arthur Dent said at the beginning of _Life, the Universe, and Everything_ has always spoken to me the most: > [@](#): > > “No, I’m very ordinary, but some very strange things have happened to me. You could say I’m more differed from than differing.” They’re not his most eloquent words, and not even close to his funniest. But damn if he didn’t sum up my life with those words. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/5 "2003-12-07T05:19:43Z")
“Time is meaningless-- Lunchtime, doubly so.” And Dirk Gently’s critique of Holmes’ maxim, of course.\* \*Possibly because I positively _hate_ Sir Arthur for attributing such an infuriatingly flawed bit of reasoning to the Great Detective. Such a statement seems more like one of Sexton Blake’s head-scratching utterances. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/6 "2003-12-07T05:44:40Z")
On Australia: _“It is very likely that, on arriving, some cheerful Australians will ‘adopt’ you on your first night, and take you to a pub where Australian Beer is served. Despite the obvious danger, do not refuse. It is a form of initiation rite. You will wake up late the next day with an astonishing hangover, a foul-taste in your mouth, and wearing strange clothes. Your hosts will usually make sure you get home, and waive off any legal difficulties with “It’s his first time in Australia, so we took him to the pub,” to which the policeman will sagely nod and close his notebook.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/7 "2003-12-07T06:01:29Z")
In the begining the universe was created. This had made a lot of people unhappy and is widely regard as a bad move. ---
**Author:** ![Gmork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Gmork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gmork)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/8 "2003-12-07T11:34:10Z")
I have too many to pick one, though I’m going to enjoy reading this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/9 "2003-12-07T12:48:54Z")
Only Douglas Adams line that ever had me laughing out loud: “I’m so hip I can’t see over my pelvis.” ---
**Author:** ![E.T.Bass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@E.T.Bass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.T.Bass)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/10 "2003-12-07T12:55:17Z")
Who’s Douglas Adams? Any relation to Don Adams, or Gomez Adams? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/11 "2003-12-07T14:07:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > **"Time is meaningless-- Lunchtime, doubly so."** \ “Time is _an illusion_.” One of my favourite quotes is from SLAT, where Ford’s full entry on Earth is restored to the Guide. I don’t have the book to hand, but essentially it suggests that all aliens landing in New York should immediately get a job as a cab driver because Manhattanites will be so pleased to find one who speaks English that they won’t care what you look like. The best of all is, of course, “You’re really _not_ going to like it.” ---
**Author:** ![KingLupid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/839c29/32.png) [@KingLupid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KingLupid)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/12 "2003-12-07T14:46:22Z")
Oh man, this is great. I have a quote that a friend attributes to DA, but I don’t think it is him: and this is a paraphrase, as I can’t remember verbatim: 100 Billion tons of incredibly hot, burning hydrogen nuclei rolled over the horizon…and went back down, with an amazing sense of dread. Does anyone recognize this? ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/13 "2003-12-07T14:53:58Z")
“`This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer, `I never could get the hang of Thursdays.’” It describes my approach to Thursdays perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![BrandyFine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrandyFine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandyFine)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/14 "2003-12-07T14:56:34Z")
Life, the Universe, and Everything, Chapter 7 on Squornshellous Zeta. “Several billion trillion tons of superhot exploding hydrogen nuclei rose slowly above the horizon and managed to look small, cold and slightly damp.” Just before Marvin talks to the mattress. Good pick. “I seem to be having tremendous trouble with my lifestyle.” ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/15 "2003-12-07T14:58:32Z")
**KingLupidp** , here’s the quote (thanks to Google): > [@](#): > > Several billion trillion tons of superhot exploding hydrogen nuclei rose slowly above the horizon and managed to look small, cold and slightly damp. > … > Fourteen hours later the sun sank hopelessly beneath the opposite horizon with a sense of totally wasted effort. My favorite the Gently quote **Larry Mudd** mentioned. Here’s the full section: > [@](#): > > “What was the Sherlock Holmes principle? ‘Once you have discounted the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’” > > “I reject that entirely,” said Dirk, sharply. “The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it which the merely improbable lacks. How often have you been presented with an apparently rational explanation of something which works in all respects other than one, which is just that it is hopelessly improbable? Your instinct is to say, ‘Yes, but he or she simply wouldn’t do that.’” > > “Well, it happened to me today, in fact,” replied Kate. > > “Ah, yes,” said Dirk, slapping the table and making the glasses jump, “your girl in the wheelchair – a perfect example. The idea that she is somehow receiving yesterday’s stock market prices apparently out of thin air is merely impossible, and therefore must be the case, because the idea that she is maintaining an immensely complex and laborious hoax of no benefit to herself is hopelessly improbable. The first idea merely supposes that there is something we don’t know about, and God knows there are enough of those. The second, however, runs contrary to something fundamental and human which we do know about. We should therefore be very suspicious of it and all its specious rationality.” ---
**Author:** ![BrandyFine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrandyFine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandyFine)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/16 "2003-12-07T14:59:27Z")
Oops, forgot to finish the quote about the sun, but someone else did already. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/17 "2003-12-07T15:10:48Z")
I’ll add just one more quote for now, from _Last Chance to See_. An excellent \*non-\*fiction book, with plenty of good information but still a lot of funny lines, like: > [@](#): > > We asked, tentatively, if we could perhaps take a snake bite detector kit with us to Komodo. > “Course you can, course you can. Take as many as you like. Won’t do you a blind bit of good because they’re only for Australian snakes.” > “So what do we do if we get bitten by something deadly, then?” I asked. > He blinked at me as if I were stupid. “Well what do you think you do?” he said. “You die of course. That’s what deadly means.” ---
**Author:** ![Fnoonf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f6c823/32.png) [@Fnoonf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fnoonf)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/18 "2003-12-07T16:10:51Z")
My single favorite sentence from any of Douglas Adams’s works has to be: > [@](#): > > \*\*“Yes,” said a passing maniac. \*\* Sublime. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/19 "2003-12-07T16:12:38Z")
> [@](#): > > `We're safe,' said Ford. `Oh good,’ said Arthur. > `We're in a small galley cabin,' said Ford, `in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet.’ > `Ah,' said Arthur, `this is obviously some strange usage of the word “safe” that I wasn’t previously aware of.’ Here’s a nice Hitchhiker quote site: [http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~nhughes/dna/faqs/quotedir.html](http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~nhughes/dna/faqs/quotedir.html) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/20 "2003-12-07T16:19:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scr4 \* > \*\*I’ll add just one more quote for now, from _Last Chance to See_. An excellent \*non-\*fiction book, with plenty of good information but still a lot of funny lines, like: \*\* A very excellent book! From the same conversation, although this seems to have been taken out of the newer editions: “Is there any venemous creature you’re fond of?” “There was, but she left me.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502.md?page=2)