01c. 1976 ADWhat does it matter? Science has achieved some wonderful things, of course, but I'd far rather be happy than right any day.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
02c. 1976 ADVery strange people, physicists, " he said as soon as they were outside again. "In my experience the ones who aren't actually dead are in some way very ill.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
03c. 1976 ADYou mean you've been in this same set of rooms here for... two hundred years?' murmured Richard. 'You'd think someone would notice, or think it was odd.''Oh, that's one of the delights of the older Cambridge colleges,' said Reg, 'everyone is so discreet. If we all went around mentioning what was odd about each other we'd be here till Christmas.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
04c. 1976 ADA towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
06c. 1976 ADCould be. I’m a pretty dangerous dude when I’m cornered.”“Yeah,” said the voice from under the table, “you go to pieces so fast people get hit by the shrapnel.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
07c. 1976 ADHe felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
08c. 1976 ADFor instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
10c. 1976 ADIt is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them 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 the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
11c. 1976 ADFar out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
13c. 1976 ADBut the plans were on display…”“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”“That’s the display department.”“With a flashlight.”“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”“So had the stairs.”“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
14c. 1976 ADFor Children: You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. It's quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken. Like most things, of course, it isn't quite that simple. The fried egg isn't properly a fried egg until it's been put in a frying pan and fried. This is something you wouldn't do to a Friday, of course, though you might do it on a Friday. You can also fry eggs on a Thursday, if you like, or on a cooker. It's all rather complicated, but it makes a kind of sense if you think about it for a while.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
15c. 1976 ADLife,” said Marvin dolefully, “loathe it or ignore it, you can’t like it.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
16c. 1976 ADAnd all dared to brave unknown terrors, to do mighty deeds, to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before--and thus was the Empire forged.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
17c. 1976 ADThe waiter approached.'Would you like to see the menu?' he said. 'Or would you like to meet the Dish of the Day?''Huh?' said Ford. 'Huh?' said Arthur.'Huh?' said Trillian.'That’s cool,' said Zaphod. 'We'll meet the meat.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
18c. 1976 ADThe little waiter's eyebrows wandered about his forehead in confusion.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
19c. 1976 ADBeppu (n.)The triumphant slamming shut of a book after reading the final page.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
20c. 1976 ADAlltami (n.)The ancient art of being able to balance the hot and cold shower taps.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
21c. 1976 ADIf they were going to be like that, then I just wished they hadn't actually been German. It was too easy. Too obvious. It was like coming across an Irishman who actually was stupid, a mother-in-law who actually was fat, or an American businessman who actually did have a middle initial and smoked a cigar. You feel as if you are unwillingly performing in a music-hall sketch and wishing you could rewrite the script. If Helmut and Kurt had been Brazilian or Chinese or Latvian or anything else at all, they could then have behaved in exactly the same way and it would have been surprising and intriguing and, more to the point from my perspective, much easier to write about. Writers should not be in the business of propping up stereotypes. I wondered what to do about it, decided that they could simply be Latvians if I wanted, and then at last drifted off peacefully to worrying about my boots.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
22c. 1976 ADAberystwyth (n.)A nostalgic yearning which is in itself more pleasant than the thing being yearned for.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
23c. 1976 ADNo," he said, "look, it's very, very simple ... all I want ... is a cup of tea. You are going to make one for me. Keep quiet and listen." And he sat. He told the Nutri-Matic about India, he told it about China, he told it about Ceylon. He told it about broad leaves drying in the sun. He told it about silver teapots. He told it about summer afternoons on the lawn. He told it about putting in the milk before the tea so it wouldn't get scalded. He even told it (briefly) about the history of the East India Company."So that's it, is it?" said the Nutri-Matic when he had finished. "Yes," said Arthur, "that is what I want.""You want the taste of dried leaves in boiled water?""Er, yes. With milk.""Squirted out of a cow?""Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose ...Douglas Adams / quote ↗
24c. 1976 ADA five-week sand blizzard?" said Deep Thought haughtily. "You ask this of me who have contemplated the very vectors of the atoms in the Big Bang itself? Molest me not with this pocket calculator stuff.Douglas Adams / quote ↗
