Ford carried on counting quietly. This is about the most aggressive thing you can do to a computer, the equivalent of going up to a human being and saying "Blood...blood...blood...blood...

If they don’t keep exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working.

Having not said anything the first time, it was somehow even more difficult to broach the subject the second time around.

Lord, lord, lord. Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer.

He didn't know why he had become president of the galaxy, except that it seemed a fun thing to be.

The Electric Monk was a labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder... Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe.

The bowler approached the wicket at a lope, a trot, and then a run. He suddenly exploded in a flurry of arms and legs, out of which flew a ball.