When you write your first book aged 25 or so, you have 25 years of experience, albeit much of it juvenile experience. The second book comes after an extra year sitting in bookshops. Pretty soon, you begin to run on empty.
Douglas Adams
Related When I am working on a book or a story, I write every morning as soon after first light as possible.... ERNEST HEMINGWAY There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book or simp... SHANNON L. ALDER After about 25 medals, you run out of shoulder to put them on. COL GEORGE DAY I write in a very peculiar way. I think about a book for 25 or 30 years in a kind of inchoate way, a... CHARLES MCCARRY A lot of writers that I know have told me that the first book you write, you write about your childh... TEA OBREHT An erratum is a correction inserted into a book after publication. It's a nice thing to collect ... MIRANDA JULY You don't come down and pay 25 cents a day. When you return the book, then you pay the bill. ANDREA ESQUER The great book for you is the book that has the most to say to you at the moment when you are readin... ROBERTSON DAVIES If you've been married for 400 years, as I have, it's nice to experience first love again an... E. L. JAMES I have to write what I can write, and writing the text of a picture book is like walking a tightrope... PATRICIA MACLACHLAN One of the strange things that happens when you publish a book is that you begin ... to see what res... SALMAN RUSHDIE For the first time in 25 years, you truly have a wide-open seat without an heir apparent. KATON DAWSON I never write in a linear way. And I tell students not to. You can only know so much about a book wh... CAROL ANSHAW It's been 25 years or however long it's been. It might be another 25 years. You never know. JEFF KRIEGER One of the traps or the pitfalls of writing a trilogy - or a triptych, or whatever term you want to ... JUSTIN CRONIN When it comes to housework the one thing no book of household management can ever tell you is how to... KATHARINE WHITEHORN It seems important to me that beginning writers ponder this—that since 1964, I have never had a bo... JOSEPH HANSEN Your life is like a book you decide what to write on it or erase from it; But you might not be able ... TOPSY GIFT You can gain experience, if you are careful to avoid empty redundancy. Do not fall into the error of... TREVANIAN You can have 25 on the list you turn in to the state, but you can only have 20 on that lineup card. ... FRANK PERMUY You get your heart stomped by the opposite sex, and you're hurting so badly that you write '... DAN HILL After you spend 25 years in active politics it's very hard to get away from it, ALFONSO GAGLIANO In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to b... JUNOT DíAZ The heartbreak of having written and published a first book is that the world then expected you to w... MICHELLE TEA Long-time viewing of Internet violence tend to change a person's temperament, making the person pron... YOU QUANXI If positive and healthy materials are absent, negative materials are sure to be dominant in the cybe... YOU QUANXI In a robust global business environment, our business units operated well in the first quarter. More... HARRY YOU The Board of Directors and I are pleased to recognize Peter's outstanding contribution to the succes... HARRY YOU We are pleased to close the books on 2004 following the painstaking review of almost five years of f... HARRY YOU Before you take your debtor to court,first open his book of remembrance to see how much he has patro... DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) You write a book like that you're fond of over the years, then you see that happen to it, it's like ... ERNEST HEMINGWAY Early on, it's natural that you take it for granted (you'll win a Super Bowl). You're like, 'Oh, thi... BRENTSON BUCKNER Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your... ANGELA CARTER Based on talent and experience, we have two top 25 teams in the nation. DEL HESSEL First you're an unknown, then you write one book and you move up to obscurity. MARTIN MYERS The experience of reading a book is always unique. I believe that you render a version of the story,... CARLTON CUSE The most other guys have is 20 to 25 years experience. He's been around twice as long. PAUL SWEENEY Death comes to you soon when you are afraid of it, so you have to live as you will not have to be af... NISHI DE SILVA Life is a book, you are the author. Learn to write the book before your mistakes and you shall have ... ALEX RJ SARANPA Write your dreams in journal,note book, card or on a cork. When you pen down your dreams, an a inner... LAILAH GIFTY AKITA If you have a 19 percent credit card and you pay it off you make 19 percent on your money. If you ha... JANE BRYANT QUINN If you take a book with you on a journey," Mo had said when he put the first one in her box, "an odd... CORNELIA FUNKE When you say 'comic book' in America, people think of Mickey Mouse, and Archie. It has a con... MARK HAMILL When I really want to learn about something, I write a book on it. Then the real research begins, as... JOSEPH CHILTON PEARCE In the biographical novel, there's only one person involved. I, the author, spend two to five ye... IRVING STONE (The academy) offers brand new teachers the support they need to get through that very difficult fir... KATHY MURRAY I expect a huge leap. They both had such good years last year, and you know from experience how much... KIRK HINRICH I love real books, paper books, but I also love buying online, and I think that people are more will... CAROLINE LEAVITT Apparently, if you live until 75, you'll have spent 25 years in bed, so it makes sense to have a... MARC WARREN I can't believe that a Northern Region team hasn't won it in 25 years. There's four regions, so you'... ROD WOOD When it comes time to sit down and write the next book, you're deathly afraid that you're no... DAVID GUTERSON To read a paper book is another experience: you can do it on a ship, on the branch of a tree, on you... UMBERTO ECO When you do a drama, you are challenged to trust your inner voice much more. Because when you put a ... SHAWN LEVY When you sing in worship and you are in praise, you must immediately begin to convert your experienc... SUNDAY ADELAJA To experience the unique sense of elation that you have when your child is sleeping on your chest in... JOHN RHYS-DAVIES A1 Team USA is focused so much on the driver and its race team, that it is an honor to be chosen to ... DAVID PRICE It's so tedious writing cookbooks or writing the recipes because I've never been much of a m... MAYA ANGELOU When you write a book, you spend day after day scanning and identifying the trees. When you’re don... STEPHEN KING A lot of these girls were there last year and I'm hoping that will help us out having a little exper... CORBY MAURER If you seriously aspire to be a manager in the big leagues, there is a baseball 'book' that ... TONY LA RUSSA When you arrive in Hiroshima you can look around and for 25 and perhaps 30 square miles you can see ... WILFRED BURCHETT Of our dual enrollees, 25 percent have received their cards, 50 percent have some sort of informatio... KRISTIN CAMPBELL Age affects how people experience time. The observations on this are well known, so it is only neces... EDWARD T. HALL I could never have pictured myself writing a book when I was 25 years old. My mom was an English tea... TONY DUNGY In the first year, a lot of us didn't know what to expect, ... Most of us didn't have experience in ... DONNIE EDWARDS Nissan is no stranger to Tennessee. Our understanding of the business climate here has been formed b... CARLOS GHOSN There comes a day when you realise turning the page is the best feeling in the world, because you re... ZAYN MALIK You know you're getting old when all the names in your black book have M. D. after them. HARRISON FORD All we have to do is get you to a point where you can write a good draft in 25 minutes. In 25 minute... BARBARA WILLIAMS Write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't ... HILARY MANTEL One of the most lasting pleasures you can experience is the feeling that comes over you when you gen... ORLANDO ALOYSIUS BATTISTA I resent people who say writers write from experience. Writers don't write from experience, though m... NIKKI GIOVANNI I'm not going to tell you that the online experience is matching the TV experience ... however, the ... CHARLES BUCHWALTER Over the next four days, I want you to write about your deepest emotions and thoughts about the most... JAMES PENNEBAKER I would think it'd be about the same as purchasing the book and taking the chance to sell it back. I... BECKY COYLE Writing takes a lot of patience. It usually takes me a year to write a book. One time, it took me 14... AVI On radio, you're in your own little world. Every time I'd be doing a possible no-hitter - I ... VIN SCULLY That chain of relationships made me think of how connections are made--you read a book, you meet a p... HOWARD ZINN You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown... MADELEINE L'ENGLE You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown... MADELEINE L'ENGLE Making a mix CD - albeit slightly old school - is generally a pretty cool gift and something I like ... RYAN REYNOLDS Don't die with your wisdom and experiences longing to live forever after you are gone: write a book. JACENT MARY MPALYENKANA You know you're getting old when all the names in your black book have M. D. after them. ARNOLD PALMER You know you're getting old when all the names in your black book have M. D. after them. HARRISON FORD You know you're getting old when all the names in your black book have M. D. after them. ARNOLD PALMER To write, I think one must sit in one place and be bored. Boredom is a very good state for writers t... NEEL MUKHERJEE That's the great thing about being an actor: Stuff shows up that you never thought was going to ... JUSTIN KIRK Simply handing over your iPod to a friend, your blind date, or the total stranger sitting next to yo... WALTER ISAACSON There is only one way to read, which is to browse in libraries and bookshops, picking up books that ... DORIS LESSING Experience suggests it doesn't matter so much how you got here, as what you do after you arrive. LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD I want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three p... NIKKI GIOVANNI Normally, if you do a television show, it's 25 episodes. Your year is kind of shot, you know wha... TATE DONOVAN For our first 25 years, Microsoft focused on business applications. In the next 25, we're going to b... DAVID HUFFORD Laugh, even when you feel too sick or too worn out or tired. Smile, even when you're trying no... ALYSHA SPEER Would you approve of your young sons, young daughters -- because girls can read as well as boys -- r... MERVYN GRIFFITH-JONES When I started writing 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' I was trying to write the type of book you mi... JEFF KINNEY It starts at 8 a.m. when you begin cutting a lot of extra lettuce. Your prep cooks have to make sure... DON SILVA He can talk?" "I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty. RICK RIORDAN It's a great time to book vacation travel for the winter. After the first of the year, airplanes are... TERRY JONES I then plan to seclude myself and write a book about my experience, ERIC LATHAM
More Douglas Adams
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. DOUGLAS ADAMS We think that the world is a solid, vivid place, full of shape and colour and solid objects like thi... DOUGLAS ADAMS There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and wh... DOUGLAS ADAMS This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays. DOUGLAS ADAMS Because the Internet is so new, we still don't really understand what it is. We mistake it for a... DOUGLAS ADAMS Some say that the universe is made so that when we are about to understand it it changes into somet... DOUGLAS ADAMS In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been wid... DOUGLAS ADAMS I'm spending a year dead for tax reasons. DOUGLAS ADAMS I wanted to be a writer-performer like the Pythons. In fact, I wanted to be John Cleese, and it took... DOUGLAS ADAMS Time is bunk. DOUGLAS ADAMS For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen. DOUGLAS ADAMS Of course you can't 'trust' what people tell you on the web anymore than you can 'tr... DOUGLAS ADAMS If somebody thinks they're a hedgehog, presumably you just give 'em a mirror and a few pictu... DOUGLAS ADAMS The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong i... DOUGLAS ADAMS I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge? DOUGLAS ADAMS If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that w... DOUGLAS ADAMS My absolute favourite piece of information is the fact that young sloths are so inept that they freq... DOUGLAS ADAMS In order to fly, all one must do is simply miss the ground. DOUGLAS ADAMS Many men of course became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural and nothing to be ashamed o... DOUGLAS ADAMS The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major ... DOUGLAS ADAMS We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty! DOUGLAS ADAMS The available worlds looked pretty grim. They had little to offer him because he had little to offer... DOUGLAS ADAMS Friends are like bras: close to your heart and there for support. DOUGLAS ADAMS Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. DOUGLAS ADAMS Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose. DOUGLAS ADAMS and then I decided I was a lemon for a couple of weeks. DOUGLAS ADAMS The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people... DOUGLAS ADAMS I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. DOUGLAS ADAMS I really didn't foresee the Internet. But then, neither did the computer industry. Not that that tel... DOUGLAS ADAMS I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day. DOUGLAS ADAMS It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount ... DOUGLAS ADAMS The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't. DOUGLAS ADAMS For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins... DOUGLAS ADAMS I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. DOUGLAS ADAMS If life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is... DOUGLAS ADAMS Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses have been specially designed to help people... DOUGLAS ADAMS In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch-Hiker's ... DOUGLAS ADAMS Could be. I’m a pretty dangerous dude when I’m cornered.” “Yeah,” said the voice from... DOUGLAS ADAMS Don't Panic. DOUGLAS ADAMS Don't you understand that we need to be childish in order to understand? Only a child sees things wi... DOUGLAS ADAMS All you really need to know for the moment is that the universe is a lot more complicated than you m... DOUGLAS ADAMS Beethoven tells you what it's like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it's like to be human. ... DOUGLAS ADAMS Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may ... DOUGLAS ADAMS The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet g... DOUGLAS ADAMS The car shot forward straight into the circle of light, and suddenly Arthur had a fairly clear idea ... DOUGLAS ADAMS You live and learn. At any rate, you live. DOUGLAS ADAMS Reality is frequently inaccurate. DOUGLAS ADAMS He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whethe... DOUGLAS ADAMS Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies a... DOUGLAS ADAMS Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have... DOUGLAS ADAMS I think we have different value systems." —Arthur "Well mine's better." —Ford DOUGLAS ADAMS The problem is, or rather one of the problems, for there are many, a sizeable proportion of which ar... DOUGLAS ADAMS Just believe everything I tell you, and it will all be very, very simple." "Ah, well, I'm... DOUGLAS ADAMS After a fairly shaky start to the day, Arthur's mind was beginning to reassemble itself from the she... DOUGLAS ADAMS Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realized what... DOUGLAS ADAMS A cup of tea would restore my normality." [Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Screenpla... DOUGLAS ADAMS There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened. DOUGLAS ADAMS A doctor, a logician and a marine biologist had also just arrived, flown in at phenomenal expense fr... DOUGLAS ADAMS So, my argument is that as we become more and more scientifically literate, it DOUGLAS ADAMS It is known that there is an infinite number of worlds, but that not every one is inhabited. Therefo... DOUGLAS ADAMS For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins... DOUGLAS ADAMS The moment at which two people, approaching from opposite ends of a long passageway, recognize each ... DOUGLAS ADAMS In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been wid... DOUGLAS ADAMS There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and w... DOUGLAS ADAMS One always overcompensates for disabilities. I'm thinking of having my entire body surgically remove... DOUGLAS ADAMS Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. DOUGLAS ADAMS I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be. DOUGLAS ADAMS What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can't ... DOUGLAS ADAMS One of the problems of taking things apart and seeing how they work - supposing you're trying to fin... DOUGLAS ADAMS Life...is like a grapefruit. It's orange and squishy , and has a few pips in it, and some folks have... DOUGLAS ADAMS Come on, insisted Zaphod, I've found a way in. In? said Arthur in horror. Into the interior of... DOUGLAS ADAMS Life is wasted on the living. DOUGLAS ADAMS People will then often say, But surely it's better to remain an Agnostic just in case?' This, to me,... DOUGLAS ADAMS He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction invol... DOUGLAS ADAMS The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armor to lead all customers out of a ... DOUGLAS ADAMS Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of
the Western Spiral arm of the Galax... DOUGLAS ADAMS The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong i... DOUGLAS ADAMS Any belief worth having must survive doubt DOUGLAS ADAMS I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be. DOUGLAS ADAMS There is a theory which states that if ever for any reason anyone discovers what exactly the Univers... DOUGLAS ADAMS Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may ... DOUGLAS ADAMS Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, ... DOUGLAS ADAMS The Answer to the Great Question Of . . . Life, the Universe and
Everything . . . [is] Forty-two. DOUGLAS ADAMS Dreams are like stars...you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your ... DOUGLAS ADAMS A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to under... DOUGLAS ADAMS Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I always think that the chances of finding out what really is going ... DOUGLAS ADAMS It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes. DOUGLAS ADAMS Totally mad. Utter nonsense. But we'll do it because it's brilliant nonsense. DOUGLAS ADAMS The difficulty with this conversation is that it's very different from most of the ones I've had of ... DOUGLAS ADAMS I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer DOUGLAS ADAMS Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, ... DOUGLAS ADAMS We demand guaranteed rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty. DOUGLAS ADAMS Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. DOUGLAS ADAMS Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of DOUGLAS ADAMS Nobleness was one word for making a fuss about the trivial inevitabilities of life, but there were o... DOUGLAS ADAMS All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported... DOUGLAS ADAMS This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were un... DOUGLAS ADAMS It's no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase "As pretty as an airport" appear DOUGLAS ADAMS Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, a... DOUGLAS ADAMS Power corrupts. Knowledge is power. Study hard. Be evil. DOUGLAS ADAMS Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so. DOUGLAS ADAMS It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..." "You mean, it comes from a world of lizards... DOUGLAS ADAMS Having not said anything the first time, it was somehow even more difficult to broach the subject th... DOUGLAS ADAMS There is a piece of me that likes to fondly imagine my maverick and rebellious nature. But, more acc... DOUGLAS ADAMS It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least ... DOUGLAS ADAMS Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the... DOUGLAS ADAMS Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terr... DOUGLAS ADAMS Books are sharks... because sharks have been around for a very long time. There were sharks before t... DOUGLAS ADAMS Ever since Newton, we've done science by taking things apart to see how they work. What the comp... DOUGLAS ADAMS He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction i... DOUGLAS ADAMS Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairi... DOUGLAS ADAMS To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that ... DOUGLAS ADAMS We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can't cope with is therefore ... DOUGLAS ADAMS In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely ... DOUGLAS ADAMS A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underes... DOUGLAS ADAMS He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot. DOUGLAS ADAMS It's unpleasantly like being drunk." "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" "You ask ... DOUGLAS ADAMS I think you get most of the most interesting work done in fields where people don't think they... DOUGLAS ADAMS We no longer think of chairs as technology; we just think of them as chairs. But there was a time wh... DOUGLAS ADAMS As a child, I was an active Christian. I used to love the school choir and remember the carol servic... DOUGLAS ADAMS Zaphod marched quickly down the passageway, nervous as hell, but trying to hide it by striding purpo... DOUGLAS ADAMS As soon as Mr. Prosser realized that he was substantially the loser after all, it was as if a weight... DOUGLAS ADAMS I was the only kid who anybody I knew has ever seen actually walk into a lamppost with his eyes wide... DOUGLAS ADAMS Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, ar... DOUGLAS ADAMS Every country is like a particular type of person. America is like a belligerent, adolescent boy; Ca... DOUGLAS ADAMS The trouble with most forms of transport, he thought, is basically one of them not being worth all t... DOUGLAS ADAMS The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning... DOUGLAS ADAMS Sunlight played along the River Cam. People in punts happily shouted at each other to fuck off. Thin... DOUGLAS ADAMS The light was only just visible - except of course that there was no one to see, no witnesses, not t... DOUGLAS ADAMS He turned slowly like a fridge door opening. DOUGLAS ADAMS There are some oddities in the perspective with which we see the world. DOUGLAS ADAMS Dirk was, for one of the few times in a life of exuberantly prolific loquacity, wordless. DOUGLAS ADAMS Unfortunately this Electric Monk had developed a fault, and had started to believe all kinds of thin... DOUGLAS ADAMS He felt like an old sponge steeped in paraffin and left in the sun to dry. DOUGLAS ADAMS High on a rocky promontory sat an Electric Monk on a bored horse. DOUGLAS ADAMS The seat received him in a loose and distant kind of way, like an aunt who disapproves of the last f... DOUGLAS ADAMS The light works," he said, indicating the window, "the gravity works," he said, dropping a pencil on... DOUGLAS ADAMS Believe me, it is a great deal better to find cast-iron proof that you're innocent than to languish ... DOUGLAS ADAMS She tried to worry that something terrible had happened to him, but didn't believe it for a moment. ... DOUGLAS ADAMS Gordon Way's astonishment at being suddenly shot dead was nothing compared to his astonishment at wh... DOUGLAS ADAMS Yes it is,' said the Professor. 'Wait—' he motioned to Richard, who was about to go out again and ... DOUGLAS ADAMS The complexities of cause and effect defy analysis. DOUGLAS ADAMS What I mean is that if you really want to understand something, the best way is to try and explain i... DOUGLAS ADAMS In the great debate that has raged for centuries about what, if anything, happens to you after death... DOUGLAS ADAMS That was it. That was really it. She knew that she had told herself that that was it only seconds ea... DOUGLAS ADAMS If everyone knew exactly what I was going to say, then there would be no point in my saying it, woul... DOUGLAS ADAMS Sir Isaac Newton, renowned inventor of the milled-edge coin and the catflap!" "The what?"... DOUGLAS ADAMS It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry 'I co... DOUGLAS ADAMS It is difficult to be sat on all day, every day, by some other creature, without forming an opinion ... DOUGLAS ADAMS The Electric Monk was a labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder... Electric Monk... DOUGLAS ADAMS The more Susan waited, the more the doorbell didn't ring. Or the phone. DOUGLAS ADAMS If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, ... DOUGLAS ADAMS Sherlock Holmes observed that once you have eliminated the impossible then whatever remains, however... DOUGLAS ADAMS The door was the way to... to... The Door was The Way. Good. Capital letters were always the best wa... DOUGLAS ADAMS Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable its... DOUGLAS ADAMS Cyberspace is - or can be - a good, friendly and egalitarian place to meet. DOUGLAS ADAMS A fragrant breeze wandered up from the quiet sea, trailed along the beach, and drifted back to the s... DOUGLAS ADAMS First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters with AS... DOUGLAS ADAMS We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. DOUGLAS ADAMS The mere thought hadn't even begun to speculate about the merest possibility of crossing my mind... DOUGLAS ADAMS The Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything is...42! DOUGLAS ADAMS The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate. DOUGLAS ADAMS Wandering around the web is like living in a world in which every doorway is actually one of those s... DOUGLAS ADAMS Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you ... DOUGLAS ADAMS I taught myself to play the guitar by listening to Paul Simon records, working it out note by note. ... DOUGLAS ADAMS I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. DOUGLAS ADAMS Life? Don't talk to me about life! DOUGLAS ADAMS The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angr... DOUGLAS ADAMS The mere thought hadn't even begun to speculate about the merest possibility of crossing my mind. DOUGLAS ADAMS The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss DOUGLAS ADAMS Vogon poetry is of course, the third worst in the universe. The second worst is that of the Az... DOUGLAS ADAMS Would it save you a lot of time if I just gave up and went mad now? DOUGLAS ADAMS In fact there was only one species on the planet more intelligent than dolphins, and they spent a lo... DOUGLAS ADAMS Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy... DOUGLAS ADAMS The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a dou... DOUGLAS ADAMS O Deep Thought computer," he said, "the task we have designed you to perform is this. We want you to... DOUGLAS ADAMS Man has always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much...... DOUGLAS ADAMS The Answer to the Great Question Of.....Life, the Universe and Everything.....(is) Forty-two. DOUGLAS ADAMS The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks. DOUGLAS ADAMS One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit o... DOUGLAS ADAMS Even he, to whom most things that most people would think were pretty smart were pretty dumb, though... DOUGLAS ADAMS The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong i... DOUGLAS ADAMS Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of. DOUGLAS ADAMS Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys ... DOUGLAS ADAMS The last time anybody made a list of the top hundred character attributes of New Yorkers, common sen... DOUGLAS ADAMS Life... is like a grapefruit. It's orange and squishy, and has a few pips in it, and some folks have... DOUGLAS ADAMS It is no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase 'As pretty as an Airport' appear. DOUGLAS ADAMS In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women and... DOUGLAS ADAMS Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner. DOUGLAS ADAMS He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was... DOUGLAS ADAMS Anything that is in the world when youre born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of... DOUGLAS ADAMS Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may... DOUGLAS ADAMS The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existenc... DOUGLAS ADAMS The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola DOUGLAS ADAMS Even traveling despondently is better than arriving here. DOUGLAS ADAMS The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a... DOUGLAS ADAMS My doctor says that I have a malformed public duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fibre,' h... DOUGLAS ADAMS Same as you, Arthur. I hitched a ride. After all, with a degree in maths and another in astrophysics... DOUGLAS ADAMS He actually caught himself saying things like "Yippee," as he pranced ridiculously round the house. DOUGLAS ADAMS If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a non... DOUGLAS ADAMS