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Famous Douglas Adams Quotes

“The usual people tried to claim responsibility. First the IRA , then the PLO and the Gas Board. Even British Nuclear Fuels rushed out a statement to the effect that the situation was completely under control, that it was a one in a million chance, that there was hardly any radioactive leakage at all, and that the site of the explosion would make a nice location for a day out with the kids and a picnic, before finally having to admit that it wasn't actually anything to do with them at all.”

PeopleFirstsKidsChanceResponsibilitySituationMillionsNiceEffectsClaimsBritishNuclearStatementsBoardsFuelGasUsualSiteLocationExplosionsPicnicsIraOne In A MillionLeakage
Book:Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Box Set: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
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“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.”

FirstsWellsTwoResultsFiveMinutesAwarenessFiguresCircumstancesLateThirdsStressAbsolutesInfiniteSpeedFactorsDefinedWell BeingReasonableConsistentTranquilityEquationsFive MinutesVaryVariablesVelocityUlcers
Book:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Scripts Volume 2: The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases
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“The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question 'How can we eat?' the second by the question 'Why do we eat?' and the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?”

FirstsThreeKnownCivilizationMajorsSurvivalThirdsInstanceLunchPhasesInquiryGalaxySophisticationHitchhikers Guide To The GalaxyHitchhikers GuideH2g2
Book:The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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“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.”

IfsThinkingFirstsChildrenReasonNamesChildhoodTestsScientistExpecting
Book:So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
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“When you're cruising down the road in the fast lane and you lazily sail past a few hard-driving cars and are feeling pretty pleased with yourself and then accidently change down from fourth to first instead of third thus making your engine leap out of your hood in a rather ugly mess, it tends to throw you off stride in much the same way that this remark threw Ford Prefect off his.”

WayFirstsHardFeelingsPastCarThirdsUglyDrivingMessLeapEnginesFourthSailRemarksLanesHoodDown The RoadStrideDriving CarsFord PrefectFast LaneFeeling Pretty
Book:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus: A Trilogy in Four Parts
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“If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don't. It's like a human body, you see. A few cuts and bruises here and there don't hurt it. Not even major surgery if it's done properly. Paradoxes are just the scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make.”

PeopleIfsFirstsHumansEndsDoneBodyRememberUniverseCoursesHurtSpaceCuttingHappenedEventsMajorsHealVersionsUncertaintyParadoxScarSurgeryTime And SpaceHuman BodyHere And ThereTissuesBruisesScar TissueCuts And Bruises
Book:Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency Box Set: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
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“It is worth repeating at this point the theories that Ford had come up with, on his first encounter with human beings, to account for their peculiar habit of continually stating and restating the very very obvious, as in "It's a nice day," or "You're very tall," or "So this is it, we're going to die." His first theory was that if human beings didn't keep exercising their lips, their mouths probably shriveled up. After a few months of observation he had come up with a second theory, which was this--"If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, their brains start working.”

IfsFirstsHumansDiesHuman BeingsBrainNiceTheoryMonthsHabitExerciseMouthsAccountsLipsCome UpObviousObservationEncountersTallPeculiarNice Day
Book:The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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“In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch-Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.”

FirstsTwoImportantCivilizationStandardsLettersGuidesScoreFriendlyPanicEasternGalaxyRelaxedCheaperRimsKnowledge And WisdomOmissionPedestriansHitchhikers Guide To The GalaxyHitchhikers GuideHikerH2g2
Book:The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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“One of the problems, and it's one which is obviously going to get worse, is that all the people at the party are either the children or the grandchildren or the great-grandchildren of the people who wouldn't leave in the first place, and because of all the business about selective breeding and regressive genes and so on, it means that all the people now at the party are either absolutely fanatical partygoers, or gibbering idiots, or, more and more frequently, both.”

PeopleFirstsMeanChildrenProblemPartyIdiotGenesGrandchildrenBreedingSelectiveGreat GrandchildrenSelective Breeding
Book:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus: A Trilogy in Four Parts
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“Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses have been specially designed to help people develop a relaxed attitude to danger. At the first hint of trouble, they turn totally black and thus prevent you from seeing anything that might alarm you.”

PeopleFirstsHas BeensHelpingMightTurnsBlackAttitudeSeeingTroubleDangerSensitiveRelaxedPerilHintsAlarmsSunglasses
Book:The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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“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.”

IfsFirstsLooksTwoEndsWholeArmsCoupleStuckFamiliarBeachDirtyRobesWatsonBowieJohn Watson
Book:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five
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“The Encyclopedia Galactica defines a robot as a mechanical apparatus designed to do the work of a man. The marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation defines a robot as "Your Plastic Pal Who's Fun to Be With. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy defines the marketing devision of the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation as "a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.”

MenFirstsFunRevolutionWallMarketingGuidesBunchCorporationsDivisionPlasticRobotsGalaxyJerkMindlessPalsEncyclopediaCyberneticsSirius
Book:The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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“The longest and most destructive party ever held is now into its fourth generation and still no one shows any signs of leaving. The problem of when the drink is going to run out is, however, going to have to be faced one day. The planet over which they are floating is no longer the planet it was when they first started floating over it. It is in bad shape”

FirstsStillsShowsProblemRunningPartyVisionGenerationsPlanetsDrinkFutureOne DayShapesLeavingDestructiveOver ItFourthFloatingSustainable Development
Author:Douglas Adams
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