# 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:** 2
**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, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/21 "2003-12-07T17:09:07Z")
Thanks, **Evil Death**. I’m so ashamed. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/22 "2003-12-07T17:21:41Z")
Mice: “And now, to business…” Zaphod and Ford, clinking glasses: “To business!” Mice: “What?” Ford: “Oh. We thought it was a toast.” * * * Zaphod: “It’s Marvin. He’s phoned up to wash his head at us.” * * * The whole exchange (over several chapters) of the eagle in Dirk’s flat. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/23 "2003-12-07T17:25:04Z")
Ford: It’s unpleasantly like being drunk. Arthur: What’s so unpleasant about being drunk? Ford: You ask a glass of water. There are many others, of course, but that’s the one that popped to mind. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/24 "2003-12-07T17:26:26Z")
“Oh no, not again.” The whale thing is what makes me laugh most & 1st quote I think of. that and “Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that “job satisfaction”? Because I don’t.’” However going with the deeper thoughts and meanings on the thread : The aliens whose star was w/i a dust cloud and when they eventually get to the outside of the dust cloud and for the first time see the real universe out there, the beauty and vastness and they realize that they were not the only ones. Thier reaction was **“It will have to go.”** I always thought that might be a minority human view where we to find ET … ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/25 "2003-12-07T17:35:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jimmmy \* > \*\*“Oh no, not again.” The whale thing is what makes me laugh most & 1st quote I think of. that and > > \*\* Sorry. That was the thought of the bowl of petunias, not the whale. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/26 "2003-12-07T19:00:59Z")
Ahhh…so many great quotes. Among my favorites, are: (referring to the Vogon fleet) > [@](#): > > The great ships hung motionless in the sky, over every nation on Earth. Motionless they hung, huge, heavy, steady in the sky, a blasphemy against nature. Many people went straight into shock as their minds tried to encompass what they were looking at. The ships hung in the sky in much the same way bricks don’t. and [/quote] His mouth started to speak, but his brain decided it hadn’t got anything to say yet and shut it again. His brain then started to contend with the problem of what his eyes told it they were looking at, but in doing so relinquished control of the mouth which promptly fell open again. Once more gathering up the jaw, his brain lost control of his left hand which then wandered around in an aimless fashion. For a second or ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/27 "2003-12-07T19:04:35Z")
Ahhh…so many great quotes. Among my favorites, are: (referring to the Vogon fleet) > [@](#): > > The great ships hung motionless in the sky, over every nation on Earth. Motionless they hung, huge, heavy, steady in the sky, a blasphemy against nature. Many people went straight into shock as their minds tried to encompass what they were looking at. The ships hung in the sky in much the same way bricks don’t. and > [@](#): > > His mouth started to speak, but his brain decided it hadn’t got anything to say yet and shut it again. His brain then started to contend with the problem of what his eyes told it they were looking at, but in doing so relinquished control of the mouth which promptly fell open again. Once more gathering up the jaw, his brain lost control of his left hand which then wandered around in an aimless fashion. For a second or so the brain tried to catch the left hand without letting go of the mouth and simultaneously tried to think about what was buried in the ice, which is probably why the legs went and Arthur dropped restfully to the ground. Those are two I’ve always enjoyed and chuckled at. Knorf ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/28 "2003-12-07T19:55:28Z")
“I’ve had the sort of day that would make Saint Francis of Assisi kick babies.” -Kate Schechter “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul” ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/29 "2003-12-07T20:15:26Z")
**Lsura** , you beat me to the Thursdays quote! (I’ve always had trouble with Thursdays too. Don’t forget Marvin: “Life. Don’t talk to me about life.” And this exchange: > [@](#): > > “Come,” called the old man, “come now or you will be late.” > “Late?” said Arthur. “What for?” > “What is your name, human?” > “Dent. Arthur Dent,” said Arthur. > “Late, as in the late Dentarthurdent,” said the old man, sternly. “It’s a sort of threat, you see.” Someday I’m going to find a way to use that in conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/30 "2003-12-07T20:19:19Z")
One of, I think, the most beautiful bits ever written: \*He wondered for a moment what it was like to be a whale. Physically, he thought, he was probably well placed to get some good insights, though whales were better adapted for their lives of gliding about in the vast pelagic blueness than he was for his of struggling up through the Pentonville Road traffic in a weary old Jaguar - but what he was thinking of, in fact, was the whales’ songs. In the past the whales had been able to sing to each other across whole oceans, even from one ocean to another because sound travels such huge distances underwater. But now, again because of the way in which sound travels, there is no part of the ocean that is not constantly jangling with the hubbub of ships’ motors, through which it is now virtually impossible for the whales to hear each other’s songs or messages. So fucking what, is pretty much the way that people tend to view this problem, and understandably so, thought Dirk. After all, who wants to hear a bunch of fat fish, oh, all right, mammals, burping at each other? But for a moment Dirk had a sense of infinite loss and sadness that somewhere among the frenzy of information noise that daily rattled the lives of men he thought he might have heard a few notes that denoted the movements of gods. As he turned north into Islington and began the long haul up past the pizza restaurants and estate agents, he felt almost frantic at the idea of what their lives must now be like. -The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul \* ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/31 "2003-12-07T20:35:38Z")
This broadcast is going out to all intelligent life forms everywhere. To everyone else: Bang the rocks together, guys! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/32 "2003-12-07T21:11:50Z")
From _Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency_: > [@](#): > > Michael usually refered to his mother as an old battle-ax, but if she was fairly to be compared to a battle-ax it would only be to an exquisitely crafted, beautifully balanced battle-ax, with an elegant minimum of fine engraving which stopped just short of its gleaming razored edge. One swipe from such an instrument and you wouldn’t even know you’d been hit until you tried to look at your watch a bit later and discovered that your arm wasn’t on. From _The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul_: > [@](#): > > The room was not a room to elevate the soul. Louis XIV, to pick a name at random, would not have liked it, would have found it not sunny enough, and insufficiently full of mirrors. He would have desired someone to pick up the socks, put the records away, and maybe burn the place down. Michelangelo would have been distressed by its proportions, which were neither lofty nor shaped by any noticeable inner harmony or symmetry, other than that all parts of the room were pretty much equally full of old coffee mugs, shoes and brimming ashtrays, most of which were now sharing their tasks with each other. The walls were painted in almost precisely that shade of green which Rafaello Sanzio would have bitten off his own right hand at the wrist rather than use, and Hercules, on seeing the room, would probably have returned half an hour later armed with a navigable river. It was, in short, a dump, and was likely to remain so for as long as it remained in the custody of Mr. Svlad, or “Dirk,” Gently, né Cjelli. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/33 "2003-12-07T22:32:08Z")
Don’t Panic! ---
**Author:** ![Optihut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/edb3f5/32.png) [@Optihut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Optihut)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/34 "2003-12-07T22:57:22Z")
“Who is this god person anyway?” ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/35 "2003-12-07T23:38:21Z")
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise it makes as it goes by.” ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/36 "2003-12-08T00:44:31Z")
“In the beginning the universe was created, this made alot of people very angry and was regarded as a bad move altogether.” ---
**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 8, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/37 "2003-12-08T02:11:42Z")
**Knorf** , thanks for reminding me of that bricks quote! That has to be one of my favorite examples of description ever. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/38 "2003-12-08T03:02:20Z")
I don’t remember it exactly but there’s a quote about something tasting “…almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.” Does anybody remember it? ---
**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 8, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/39 "2003-12-08T03:39:07Z")
Oh yeah, that’s Arthur’s description of the tea-like substance that the _Heart of Gold_’s computer produced for him… ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/40 "2003-12-08T05:59:17Z")
"`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 from 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.’" [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502.md?page=3)