Listen, three eyes," he said, "don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal.
Douglas AdamsRead
The Universe, as has been observed before, is an unsettlingly big place, a fact which for the sake of a quiet life most people tend to ignore.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The universe is vast and overwhelming, and many choose to overlook this reality for their own peace of mind.
Douglas Adams highlights the daunting scale of the universe, suggesting that its enormity can be unsettling for individuals. To maintain a sense of normalcy and tranquility in life, many people consciously choose to ignore or downplay the enormity of existence, which raises questions about human nature, awareness, and coping mechanisms in the face of overwhelming reality.
Themes
UniverseIgnoranceVastnessRealityHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture about existentialism, one might quote this to emphasize the scale of the universe.
More from Douglas Adams
All quotes β"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" "Ask a glass of water."
Douglas AdamsRead
Protect me from knowing what I don't need to know. Protect me from even knowing that there are things to know that I don't know. Protect me from knowing that I decided not to know about the things that I decided not to know about. Amen. [...] Lord, lord, lord. Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer.
Douglas AdamsRead
Computers are still technology because we are still wrestling with it: it's still being invented; we're still trying to work out how it works. There's a world of game interaction to come that you or I wouldn't recognise. It's time for the machines to disappear. The computer's got to disappear into all of the things we use.
Douglas AdamsRead
What the computer in virtual reality enables us to do is to recalibrate ourselves so that we can start seeing those pieces of information that are invisible to us but have become important for us to understand.
Douglas AdamsRead
We are stuck with technology when all we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognize something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual.
Douglas AdamsRead
Similar quotes
Where eldest Night And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal anarchy amidst the noise Of endless wars, and by confusion stand; For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce, Strive here for mast'ry.
John MiltonRead
I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a hell of a lot more if I had been understood.
Clarence DarrowRead
I saw in the whole Christian world a license of fighting at which even barbarous nations might blush. Wars were begun on trifling pretexts or none at all, and carried on without any reference of law, Divine or human.
Hugo GrotiusRead
War's Legitimate Object Is More Perfect Peace.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead
There's so much of our psychological makeup which is impermissible for us to explore because it's inappropriate or perverse or scary. I'm interested in exploring that in myself. I try to be honest with myself about everything that I feel. I'm not saying I'm able to do that all the time, but it's something I'm interested in.
Annette BeningRead
Deep assignments run through all our lives; there are no coincidences.
J. G. BallardRead