Who said anything about panicking?” snapped Arthur. “This is still…

Who said anything about panicking?” snapped Arthur. “This is still just the culture shock. You wait till I’ve settled down into the situation and found my bearings. Then I’ll start panicking!

Characters, Arthur Dent

Other The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Quotes

The major problem — one of the major problems, for there are several — one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem. - View Quote Details on The major problem — one of the major problems, for…
“Er…” he said, “hello. Er, look, I’m sorry I’m a bit late. I’ve had the most ghastly time, all sorts of things cropping up at the last moment.”
He seemed nervous of the expectant awed hush. He cleared his throat.
“Er, how are we for time?” he said, “have I just got a min—”
And so the Universe ended. - View Quote Details on “Er…” he said, “hello. Er, look, I’m sorry I’m a…
“Share and Enjoy” is the company motto of the hugely successful Sirius Cybernetics Corporation Complaints division, which now covers the major land masses of three medium sized planets and is the only part of the Corporation to have shown a consistent profit in recent years. - View Quote Details on “Share and Enjoy” is the company motto of the hugely…
It said: ‘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?” - View Quote Details on It said: ‘The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends…
We live in strange times.
We also live in strange places: each in a universe of our own. The people with whom we populate our universes are the shadows of whole other universes intersecting with our own. Being able to glance out into this bewildering complexity of infinite recursion and say thing like, “Oh, hi, Ed! Nice tan. How’s Carol?” involves a great deal of filtering skill for which all conscious entities have eventually to develop a capacity in order to protect themselves from the comtemplation of the chaos through which they see the and world tumble. So give your kid a break, okay? - c. ?; Extract from Practical Parenting in a Fractally Demented Universe - View Quote Details on We live in strange times.
We also live in strange places:…
“What a depressingly stupid machine,” said Marvin and trudged away. - View Quote Details on “What a depressingly stupid machine,” said Marvin and trudged away.
What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can’t move with no hope of rescue:
Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far.
Alternatively, if life hasn’t been good to you so far (which, given your current circumstances, seems more likely):
Consider how lucky you are that it won’t be troubling you much longer. (Fit the Eighth) - View Quote Details on What to do if you find yourself stuck in a…
The protruding upper halves of the letters now appear, in the local language, to read “Go stick your head in a pig”, and are no longer illuminated, except at times of special celebration. - View Quote Details on The protruding upper halves of the letters now appear, in…
Looking up into the night sky is looking into infinity - distance is incomprehensible and therefore meaningless. - View Quote Details on Looking up into the night sky is looking into infinity…
“If I had two heads like you, Zaphod, I could have hours of fun banging them against a wall.” - The Hitchhiker’s Guide the Galaxy Radio Series. - View Quote Details on “If I had two heads like you, Zaphod, I could…