Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy favorite quotes..

[Dualnames]

Okay, whilst creating Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I was wondering which one is your favorite line from the book...

I would always go for Arthur's "I could never get the hang of Thursdays" or the other about gargle blasters: "The effect when you drink one is having your brain smashed by a slice of a lemon wrapped around a brick."

[SSH]

Those were the days when men were real men, women were real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centurai were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centurai

[Radiant]

A race so amazingly primitive that they still thought digital watches were a great idea...

[Akatosh]

Damn you! I was going to post that! 

[Emerald]

I don't remember it specifically (been ages since I read that book) but I remember there was a short chapter about a mattress on some planet who 'wargled' and 'rumped' to himself (or something like that). I thought it was funny.

To be honest, I never really had that fascination with bizarre British humour...

[Meowster]

The first million years were the worst. And the second million. And the third million were the worst too...

[Rincewind]

This one is really from "Life, the universe and everything", but it's still one of my favourites:

"Arthur felt happy. He was terribly pleased that the day was for once working out so much according to plan. Only twenty minutes ago he had decided that he would go mad, and now here he was already chasing a Chesterfield sofa across the fields of prehistoric earth."

[OneDollar]

"You know," said Arthur, "it's at times like this, when I'm trapped in a Vogon airlock with a man from Betelgeuse, and about to die of asphyxiation in deep space that I really wish I'd listened to what my mother told me when I was young."
"Why, what did she tell you?"
"I don't know, I didn't listen."

[twin-moon]

Not accurately quoted, but I haven't got the book here:
"Though humans are descended from ape-like creatures, they never invite their ancestors 'round for a cup of tea."

In the tv adaptation you then see a picture of humans at a dinner table with some monkees between them and a large caption saying: 'This never happens'.

[OneDollar]

"Though humans are descended from ape-like creatures, they never invite their ancestors 'round for a cup of tea."

"Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner"

Also, travelling through hyperspace:
Ford: "It's unpleasantly like being drunk"
Arthur: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
Ford: "You ask a glass of water"
I can't believe it took me as long as it did to get that one...

[Ponch]

"Time is an illusion. Lunch time doubly so."

I'm ashamed to say I've used that line in serious conversations more than once. It's a special moment when someone present knows the line too.

Also worth mentioning, though I can't remember the full quote at the moment, is when Ford claims to be responsible for the giraffe.

[thomasregin]

Favorite quote? There are so many to choose from!!!

It's probably one of the most absurd side-plots from "Life, the Universe and Everything": Arthur Dent is stranded on a deserted planet. However, after MANY years of complete solitude, a spaceship lands next to his cave (where Dent has been living) and this guy steps out and says:

"You're a jerk, Dent; a complete arsehole".

Then he takes off again.

It turns out that this guy, Wowbagger, has been granted the gift of eternal life. And this upsets him so much that he has decided to personally insult every living creature in the universe, in alphabetical order! Ha ha ha!!

/Thomas.

[twin-moon]

"Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner"

Thanks, that's it 

Ford: "It's unpleasantly like being drunk"
Arthur: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
Ford: "You ask a glass of water"

Man, I can't believe I forgot that one. I'm changing my vote.

[lemmy101]

The ships hung in the air in much the same way that bricks don't.

"If I asked you where the hell we were, would I regret it?"
"We're safe."
"Oh good."
"We're in a small cabin in one of the spaceships of the Vogon Constructor Fleet."
"Oh, this is obviously some strange usage of the word safe that I wasn't previously aware of."

Or anything that Marvin says through the entire books. Particularly his opening chapter escorting Arthur and Ford to the bridge.

[lo_res_man]

"Oh no, not again"

[Baron]

"due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog"

[Darth Mandarb]

"due to a terrible miscalculation of scale the entire battle fleet was accidentally swallowed by a small dog"

YES!!!  This is by far and away my favorite part of the entire series.

Another one of my favorites is:

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

[Radiant]

It's probably one of the most absurd side-plots from "Life, the Universe and Everything": Arthur Dent is stranded on a deserted planet. However, after MANY years of complete solitude, a spaceship lands next to his cave (where Dent has been living) and this guy steps out and says:

And, much later in the book, they come across a certain Arthur Philip Denu, who meets the same fate

[monkey0506]

Although it's not actually in the book, I've been told it was part of the original radio broadcast:

Ford, you're turning into an infinite number of penguins. Please stop.

Or:

Ford there's an infinite number of angry monkeys outside who want you to take a look at their script for Hamlet.

Neither of them exact quotes I think, but they made me laugh.

I actually have "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy", a compilation set of the entire series (including the disturbing short, "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe" which I have no idea how it fits into the storyline really) which I read in the bathroom. I've read the entire thing through about 3 or 4 times since I've gotten it and can't get enough. Adams was a brilliant man.

[Stupot]

I thought the full stop at the end of the last sentence was the best bit.

There's genius, and then theres being random for the sake of randomness which anybody can do with a bit of practice.  Adams fell somewhere in between.