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Douglas Adams Quotes - Page 8

All Quotes Alcohol Art Arthur Assumption Atheism Atheist Beach Belief Challenges Children Coffee Difficulty Earth Exercise Experience Feelings Flying Food Fun Funny Giving Gold Heart House Inspiration Inspirational Integrity Intelligence Internet Journey Language Leaving Life Logic Love Lying Money Monk Morning Nature Opportunity Past Philosophy Pleasure Quality Rain Reality Religion Responsibility Running Science Simplicity Strategy Stress Tea Technology Time Understanding Universe Waiting War Water Winning Work Out Writing

Sherlock Holmes observed that once you have eliminated the impossible then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.

Sherlock Holmes observed that once you have eliminated the impossible then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.

Truth, Answers, Impossible

Douglas Adams (2016). “Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Box Set: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul”, p.178, Simon and Schuster

The books people are writing today, they're too long. You get a little bit of plot, and then pages and pages of Creative Writing. They teach classes in how to do this. They should teach classes in how to stop!

Book, Writing, Class

If life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion.

Philosophical, Thought Provoking, Size

Douglas Adams (2009). “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, p.53, Pan Macmillan

I come in peace...Take me to your lizard.

Lizards, Take Me

Yes, I think I use the term radical rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as atheist some people will say, Don't you mean agnostic? I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one...etc., etc. It's easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal and that it's an opinion I hold seriously.

Being Yourself, Atheist, Believe

From another direction he felt the sensation of being a sheep startled by a flying saucer, but it was virtually indistinguishable from the feeling of being a sheep startled by anything else it ever encountered, for they were creatures who learned very little on their journey through life, and would be startled to see the sun rising in the morning, and astonished by all the green stuff in the fields.

Morning, Journey, Sheep

Douglas Adams (2009). “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”, p.38, Pan Macmillan

If there's any real truth, it's that the entire multidimensional infinity of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs.

Running, Real, Infinity

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Scripts Volume 2: The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases”, p.237, Pan Macmillan

Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

War, Communication, Race

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.47, Pan Macmillan

Why' is the only question that bothers people enough to have an entire letter of the alphabet named after it. The alphabet does not go 'A B C D What? When? How?' but it does go 'V W X Why? Z.

People, Doe, Letters

Douglas Adams (2005). “The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time”, p.29, Del Rey

I wanted to be John Cleese. It took me some time to realise that the job was taken.

Jobs, Taken, Wanted

Douglas Adams (2005). “The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time”, p.19, Del Rey

'The difficulty with this conversation,' said Arthur after a sort of pondering look had crawled slowly across his face like a mountaineer negotiating a tricky outcrop, 'is that it's very different from most of the ones I've had of late. Which, as I explained, have mostly been with trees.'

Tree, Different, Conversation

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus: A Trilogy in Four Parts".

Don't spin your wheels and stress. Take a deep breath, center yourself and make a plan.

Stress, Wheels, Take A Deep Breath

The film project has been “twenty years of constipation,” and he likens the Hollywood process to “trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it.”

Breathing, People, Trying

"The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time".

There is a feeling which persists in England that making a sandwich interesting, attractive, or in any way pleasant to eat is something sinful that only foreigners do.

Funny, Humorous, Interesting

Douglas Adams (2009). “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”, p.52, Pan Macmillan

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 that 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.

Integrity, Impossible, Kind

Douglas Adams (2014). “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul”, p.130, Simon and Schuster

Assumptions are what we don't know we are making

Assumption, Knows

You may not instantly see why I bring the subject up, but that is because my mind works so phenomenally fast, and I am at a rough estimate thirty billion times more intelligent than you. Let me give you an example. Think of a number, any number.” “Er, five,” said the mattress. “Wrong,” said Marvin. “You see?

Intelligent, Thinking, Numbers

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.357, Pan Macmillan

It all sounds rather naive and sentimental to be talking about children laughing and dancing and singing together when we all know perfectly well that what children do in real life is snarl and take drugs.

Children, Real, Talking

Siamese Cats have a way of staring at you. Those who have walked in on the Queen cleaning her teeth will know the expression.

Queens, Cat, Expression

Time affords us the ability to blame past errors on others while whole heartedly pronouncing our futures successes.

Past, Errors, Blame

Presidents don't have power. Their job is to draw attention away from it.

Jobs, President, Attention

I like the cover," he said. "Don't Panic. It's the first helpful or intelligible thing anybody's said to me all day.

Intelligence, Panic, Firsts

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.42, Pan Macmillan

The only thing nicer than a phone that didn't ring all the time (or indeed at all) was six phones that didn't ring all the time (or indeed at all).

Phones, Six, Rings

Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.292, Pan Macmillan

But the reason I call myself by my childhood name is to remind myself that a scientist must also be absolutely like a child. If he sees a thing, he must say that he sees it, whether it was what he thought he was going to see or not. See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting.

Children, Thinking, Names

Douglas Adams (2009). “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”, p.108, Pan Macmillan

One of the problems of taking things apart and seeing how they work - supposing you're trying to find out how a cat works--you take that cat apart to see how it works, what you've got in your hands is a non-working cat. The cat wasn't a sort of clunky mechanism that was susceptible to our available tools of analysis.

Cat, Hands, Supposing That

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