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“Exactly!" said Deep Thought. "So once you do know what the question actually is, you'll know what the answer means.”

“Zaphod Beeblebrox crawled bravely along a tunnel, like the hell of a guy he was. He was very confused, but he continued crawling doggedly anyway because he was that brave.”

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.”

“It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.”

“Just believe everything I tell you, and it will all be very, very simple.""Ah, well, I'm not sure I believe that.”

“I have detected disturbances in the wash.''The wash?''The space-time wash.''Are we talking about some sort of Vogon laundromat, or what are we talking about?''Eddies in the space-time continuum.''Ah...is he. Is he.''What?''Er, who is Eddy, then, exactly?”

“Well, I mean, yes idealism, yes the dignity of pure research, yes the pursuit of truth in all its forms, but there comes a point I'm afraid where you begin to suspect that the entire multidimensional infinity of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs. And if it comes to a choice between spending yet another ten million years finding that out, and on the other hand just taking the money and running, then I for one could do with the exercise.”

“Did I do anything wrong today," he said, "or has the world always been like this and I've been too wrapped up in myself to notice?”

“All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you might think, even if you start from a position of thinking it's pretty damn complicated in the first place.”

“Let the past hold on to itself and let the present move forward into the future.”

“The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, the effect of which is like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick.”

“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”

“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.”

“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.”

“The car shot forward straight into the circle of light, and suddenly Arthur had a fairly clear idea of what infinity looked like.It wasn’t infinity in fact. Infinity itself looks flat and uninteresting. Looking up into the night sky is looking into infinity—distance is incomprehensible and therefore meaningless. The chamber into which the aircar emerged was anything but infinite, it was just very very very big, so big that it gave the impression of infinity far better than infinity itself.”

“Lemon??!!”

“O Deep Thought computer," he said, "the task we have designed you to perform is this. We want you to tell us...." he paused, "The Answer.""The Answer?" said Deep Thought. "The Answer to what?""Life!" urged Fook."The Universe!" said Lunkwill."Everything!" they said in chorus.Deep Thought paused for a moment's reflection."Tricky," he said finally."But can you do it?"Again, a significant pause."Yes," said Deep Thought, "I can do it.""There is an answer?" said Fook with breathless excitement."Yes," said Deep Thought. "Life, the Universe, and Everything. There is an answer. But, I'll have to think about it."...Fook glanced impatiently at his watch.“How long?” he said.“Seven and a half million years,” said Deep Thought.Lunkwill and Fook blinked at each other.“Seven and a half million years...!” they cried in chorus.“Yes,” declaimed Deep Thought, “I said I’d have to think about it, didn’t I?"[Seven and a half million years later.... Fook and Lunkwill are long gone, but their descendents continue what they started]"We are the ones who will hear," said Phouchg, "the answer to the great question of Life....!""The Universe...!" said Loonquawl."And Everything...!""Shhh," said Loonquawl with a slight gesture. "I think Deep Thought is preparing to speak!"There was a moment's expectant pause while panels slowly came to life on the front of the console. Lights flashed on and off experimentally and settled down into a businesslike pattern. A soft low hum came from the communication channel."Good Morning," said Deep Thought at last."Er..good morning, O Deep Thought" said Loonquawl nervously, "do you have...er, that is...""An Answer for you?" interrupted Deep Thought majestically. "Yes, I have."The two men shivered with expectancy. Their waiting had not been in vain."There really is one?" breathed Phouchg."There really is one," confirmed Deep Thought."To Everything? To the great Question of Life, the Universe and everything?""Yes."Both of the men had been trained for this moment, their lives had been a preparation for it, they had been selected at birth as those who would witness the answer, but even so they found themselves gasping and squirming like excited children."And you're ready to give it to us?" urged Loonsuawl."I am.""Now?""Now," said Deep Thought.They both licked their dry lips."Though I don't think," added Deep Thought. "that you're going to like it.""Doesn't matter!" said Phouchg. "We must know it! Now!""Now?" inquired Deep Thought."Yes! Now...""All right," said the computer, and settled into silence again. The two men fidgeted. The tension was unbearable."You're really not going to like it," observed Deep Thought."Tell us!""All right," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question...""Yes..!""Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought."Yes...!""Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused."Yes...!""Is...""Yes...!!!...?""Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.”

“Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.”

“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 them what to do. Don't get bitten in the first place. (quoting Dr. Struan Sutherland)”

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

“The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”

“Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.”

“The bird that would soar above the plain of tradition and prejudice must have strong wings. ”

“Don't Panic.”

“So long, and thanks for all the fish.”

“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 must 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.”

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”

“I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.”

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

“You live and learn. At any rate, you live.”

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

“I don't accept the currently fashionable assertion that any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal and opposite view. My view is that the moon is made of rock. If someone says to me 'Well, you haven't been there, have you? You haven't seen it for yourself, so my view that it is made of Norwegian Beaver Cheese is equally valid' - then I can't even be bothered to argue. There is such a thing as the burden of proof, and in the case of god, as in the case of the composition of the moon, this has shifted radically. God used to be the best explanation we'd got, and we've now got vastly better ones. God is no longer an explanation of anything, but has instead become something that would itself need an insurmountable amount of explaining. So I don't think that being convinced that there is no god is as irrational or arrogant a point of view as belief that there is. I don't think the matter calls for even-handedness at all.”

“The story so far:In the beginning the Universe was created.This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”