There was a terribly ghastly silence. There was a terribly ghastly noise. There was a terribly ghastly silence.

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.

If everyone knew exactly what I was going to say, then there would be no point in my saying it, would there?

Dirk was, for one of the few times in a life of exuberantly prolific loquacity, wordless.

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.

Life... is like a grapefruit. Well, it's sort of orangey-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It's got pips inside, too. Oh, and some people have half a one for breakfast.

Come on,” he droned, “I’ve been ordered to take you down to the bridge. Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction? ’Cos I don’t.” He turned and walked back to the hated door. “Er, excuse me,” said Ford following after him, “which government owns this ship?” Marvin ignored him. “You watch this door,” he muttered, “it’s about to open again. I can tell by the intolerable air of smugness it suddenly generates.