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Douglas Adams Quotes - Page 10

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The invention of the scientific method and science is, I'm sure we'll all agree, the most powerful intellectual idea, the most powerful framework for thinking and investigating and understanding and challenging the

The invention of the scientific method and science is, I'm sure we'll all agree, the most powerful intellectual idea, the most powerful framework for thinking and investigating and understanding and challenging the world around us that there is, and it rests on the premise that any idea is there to be attacked. If it withstands the attack then it lives to fight another day and if it doesn't withstand the attack then down it goes. Religion doesn't seem to work like that.

Life, Powerful, Hard Work

In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness that starts to set in about 2:55, when you know you've taken all the baths that you can usefully take that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the newspaper you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul.

Moving, Sunday, Dark

"Life, the Universe and Everything" by Douglas Adams, (Ch. 1), 1982.

If you took a couple of David Bowies and stuck one of the David Bowies on the top of the other David Bowie, then attached another David Bowie to the end of each of the arms of the upper of the first two David Bowies and wrapped the whole business up in a dirty beach robe you would then have something which didn't exactly look like John Watson, but which those who knew him would find hauntingly familiar.

Beach, Couple, Dirty

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.576, Pan Macmillan

Very strange people, physicists - in my experience the ones who aren't dead are in some way very ill.

People, Way, Strange

R is a velocity of measure, defined as a reasonable speed of travel that is consistent with health, mental well-being, and not being more than, say, five minutes late. It is therefore clearly as almost infinite variable figure according to circumstances, since the first two factors vary not only with speed as an absolute, but also with awareness of the third factor. Unless handled with tranquility, this equation can result in considerable stress, ulcers, and even death.

Stress, Two, Variables

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Scripts Volume 2: The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases”, p.111, Pan Macmillan

Zaphod Beeblebrox, adventurer, ex-hippie, good-timer (crook? quite possibly), manic self-publicist, terrible bad at personal relationships, often thought to be completely out to lunch.

Hippie, Self, Lunch

Douglas Adams (2010). “The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, p.51, Del Rey

I begged her, 'Please don't leave me stranded in the middle of some primitive zarking forest with no medical help and a head injury. I could be in serious trouble and so could she.'" "What did she say?" "She hit me on the head with the rock again," Ford responded curtly. "I think i can confirm that was my daughter." "Sweet kid." "You have to get to know her," said Arthur. "She eases up, does she?" "No, but you get a better sense of when to duck.

Daughter, Sweet, Kids

It seemed to me,' said Wonko the Sane, 'that any civilization that had so far lost its head as to need to include a set of detailed instructions for use in a package of toothpicks, was no longer a civilization in which I could live and stay sane.

Civilization, Needs, Use

Douglas Adams (2009). “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”, p.107, Pan Macmillan

Bistromathics itself is simply a revolutionary new way of understanding the behavior of numbers. Just as Einstein observed that space was not an absolute but depended on the observer's movement in space, and that time was not an absolute, but depended on the observer's movement in time, so it is now realized that numbers are not absolute, but depend on the observer's movement in restaurants.

Time, Math, Science

Douglas Adams (2010). “The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, p.427, Del Rey

He learned to communicate with birds and discovered their conversation was fantastically boring. It was all to do with windspeed, wingspans, power-to-weight ratios and a fair bit about berries.

Bird, Berries, Weight

Douglas Adams (2010). “The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, p.574, Del Rey

Alltami (n.) The ancient art of being able to balance the hot and cold shower taps.

Art, Hot And Cold, Balance

Douglas Adams, John Lloyd (2013). “The Meaning of Liff: The Original Dictionary Of Things There Should Be Words For”, p.7, Pan Macmillan

The last time anybody made a list of the top hundred character attributes of New Yorkers, common sense snuck in at number 79.

Character, Numbers, Common Sense

Douglas Adams (2009). “Mostly Harmless”, p.17, Pan Macmillan

Shee, you guys are so unhip it's a wonder your bums don't fall off.

Fall, Guy, Hitchhiking

Douglas Adams (2009). “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, p.83, Pan Macmillan

If there was one thing life had taught her it was that there are times when you do not go back for your bag and times when you do. It had yet to teach her to distinguish between the two types of occasion.

Two, Bags, Taught

Douglas Adams (2017). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus: A Trilogy in Four Parts”, p.576, Pan Macmillan

Was there a reason behind it? There would be no point in asking Zaphod, he never appeared to have a reason for anything he did at all: he had turned unfathomability into an art form. He attacked everything in life with a mixture of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence and it was often difficult to tell which was which.

Art, Would Be, Genius

Douglas Adams (2017). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus: A Trilogy in Four Parts”, p.74, Pan Macmillan

There’s no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now... What do you mean you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven’s sake, mankind, it’s only four light years away, you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that’s your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams.

Sorry, Mean, Light

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Book 1)". Book by Douglas Adams (Chapter 3), October 12, 1979.

He spent a lot of time flying. He learnt to communicate with birds and discovered that their conversation was fantastically boring. It was all to do with wind speed, wing spans, power-to-weight ratios and a fair bit about berries. Unfortunately, he discovered, once you have learnt birdspeak you quickly come to realize that the air is full of it the whole time, just inane bird chatter. There is no getting away from it.

Air, Wind, Wings

Douglas Adams (2009). “Life, the Universe and Everything”, p.148, Pan Macmillan

There was a terribly ghastly silence. There was a terribly ghastly noise. There was a terribly ghastly silence.

Silence, Noise, Ghastly

Douglas Adams (2017). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus: A Trilogy in Four Parts”, p.29, Pan Macmillan

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.

Believe, Space, Mind

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Scripts Volume 2: The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases”, p.204, Pan Macmillan

And 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.

Men, Brave, Deeds

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.81, Pan Macmillan

Generally, old media don't die. They just have to grow old gracefully. Guess what, we still have stone masons. They haven't been the primary purveyors of the written word for a while now of course, but they still have a role because you wouldn't want a TV screen on your headstone.

Media, Hitchhiking, Want

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future" (BBC Radio 4) with Douglas Adams, 2001.

What does it matter? Science has achieved some wonderful things, of course, but I'd far rather be happy than right any day.

Doe, Matter, Wonderful

Douglas Adams (2010). “The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, p.173, Del Rey

I find that writing is a constant battle with exactly the same problems you've always had.

Writing, Battle, Problem

He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.

Reality, Afterlife, Religion

Douglas Adams (2009). “Life, the Universe and Everything”, p.138, Pan Macmillan

I am a private detective. I am paid to be inquisitive and presumptuous.

Detectives, Inquisitive, Paid

Douglas Adams (2014). “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul”, p.85, Simon and Schuster

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