# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**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 10, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/61 "2003-12-10T21:58:32Z")
I would have posted this before, but I had loaned out my copy of **Life, the Universe and Everything**. - …and the renewed shock had nearly made him spill his drink. He drained it quickly before anything serious happened to it. He then had another quick one to follow the first one down and check that it was all right. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/62 "2003-12-10T22:29:45Z")
Another one I like to use in my job as computer tech: Probability factor of one to one. We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own lookout. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/63 "2003-12-10T23:21:58Z")
I can’t remember the details, but the concept of a **Somebody Else’s Problem Field** stays with me. Once a thing is perceived as somebody else’s problem, it becomes almost totally invisible. It is completely true. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/64 "2003-12-10T23:46:23Z")
“You’re Zaphod Beeblebrox?” “Yes, but don’t shout it out or they’ll all want one.” “_The_ Zaphod Beeblebrox?” “No, just _a_ Zaphod Beeblebrox, didn’t you hear I come in six-packs?” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/65 "2003-12-11T01:34:09Z")
“I am so hip I have trouble seeing over my pelvis. I am so cool you could keep a side of beef in me for a month.” I teleported home one night With Ron and Sid and Meg Ron stole Meggie’s heart away And I got Sidney’s leg ---
**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 11, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/66 "2003-12-11T05:56:55Z")
I can’t type out the entire introduction to The Ultimate Hitchhihker’s Guide (alright, I can - but I’m lazy) but it’s a great story about how THHGTTG (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, for those of us who aren’t hyper-intelligent shades of blue) came to be. And among all the wonderful lines, this is the funniest one, imo, that requires the least amount of typing: > [@](#): > > I didn’t have a copy of _Europe on Five Dollars a Day_ (as it then was) because I wasn’t in that financial league. ---
**Author:** ![Swede\_Hollow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Swede\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swede_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/67 "2003-12-13T03:22:20Z")
A couple more from _Last Chance to See_ > [@](#): > > The great thing about being the only species that makes a distinction between right and wrong is that we can make up the rules for ourselves as we go along. and > [@](#): > > …human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/68 "2003-12-13T05:15:04Z")
When Zaphod and Ford are about to send Marvin crashing into the sun while saving themselves: “Marvin! How’re you doing?” “Not very well, I suspect.” I get to use this one at work all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Tanaqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Tanaqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanaqui)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/69 "2003-12-13T06:57:26Z")
I love the whole bit in “Life, The Universe, and Everything” when Ford and Arthur meet again, after Arthur decides to go mad: > [@](#): > > “I thought you must be dead…” he [Arthur] said simply. > > “So did I for a wihle,” said Ford, “and then I decided I was a lemon for a couple of weeks. I kept myself amused all that time jumping in and out of a gin and tonic.” > > Arthur cleared his throat, then did it again. “Where,” he said, “did you … ?” > > “Find a gin and tonic?” said Ford brightly. “I found a small lake that thought it was a gin and tonic, and jumped in and out of that. At least, I think it thought it was a gin and tonic.” > > “I may,” he added with a grin that would have sent sane men scampering into trees, “have been imagining it.” And all the rest have been posted are great as well. ---
**Author:** ![mighty\_maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@mighty\_maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mighty_maxx)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502/70 "2003-12-13T15:12:43Z")
In my Sig [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-douglas-adams-quote/217502.md?page=3)