Dennis Hutch had stepped up into the top seat when its founder had died of a lethal overdose of brick wall, taken while under the influence of a Ferrari and a bottle of tequila.
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 tho...
Because Ford never learned to say his original name, his father eventually died of shame, which is still a terminal disease in some parts of the Galaxy.
Ballycumber (ba-li-KUM-ber) n. One of the six half-read books lying somewhere in your bed.
Can't stand all these poisonous creatures, all these snakes and insects and fish and things. Wretched things, biting everybody. And then people expect me to tell them what to do about it. I'll tell th...
You know, said Arthur thoughtfully, all this explains a lot of things. All through my life I’ve had this strange unaccountable feeling that something was going on in the world, something big, even sin...
You come to me for advice, but you can't cope with anything you don't recognize. Hmmm. So we'll have to tell you something you already know but make it sound like news, eh Well, business as usual , I...
What was the Sherlock Holmes principle? ‘Once you have discounted the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ I reject that entirely, said Dirk sharply. The imposs...
What I need... is a strong drink and a peer group.
The Universe is an unsettlingly big place, a fact which for the sake of a quiet life most people tend to ignore. Many would happily move to somewhere rather smaller of their own devising, and this is...
The Heart of Gold fled on silently through the night of space, now on conventional photon drive. Its crew of four were ill as ease knowing that they had been brought together not of their own volition...
The Electric Monk was a labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder... Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of b...
Sir Isaac Newton, renowned inventor of the milled-edge coin and the catflap!The what? said Richard.The catflap! A device of the utmost cunning, perspicuity and invention. It is a door within a door, y...
Proving nothing, said Ford. I wouldn't trust that computer to speak my weight.I can do that for you, sure, enthused the computer, punching out more ticker tape. I can even work out your personality pr...
People who need to bully you are the easiest to push around.
One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very very obvious.
One of the major problems encountered in time travel is not that of becoming your own father or mother. There is no problem in becoming your own father or mother that a broad-minded and well-adjusted...
One day old Thrashbarg said that Almighty Bob had declared that he, Thrashbarg, was to have first pick of the sandwiches. The villagers asked him when this had happened, exactly, and Thrashbarg said i...
In fact there was only one species on the planet more intelligent than dolphins, and they spent a lot of their time in behavioural research laboratories running around inside wheels and conduction fri...
If, [the management consultant] said tersely, we could for a moment move on to the subject of fiscal policy. . .Fiscal policy! whooped Ford Prefect. Fiscal policy!The management consultant gave him a...