A hole had just appeared in the Galaxy. It was exactly a nothingth of a second long, a nothingth of an inch wide, and quite a lot of million light years from end to end. As it closed up [...] Two hundred and thirty-nine thousand lightly fried eggs fell out of it...materializing in a large woobly heap on the famine-struck land of Poghril in the Pansel system. The whole Poghril tribe had died out from famine except for one last man who died of cholesterol poisoning some weeks later.

My capacity for happiness," he added, "you could fit into a matchbox without taking out the matches first

Technology is a word that describes something that doesn't work yet.

If life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion.

I am a private detective. I am paid to be inquisitive and presumptuous.

In an infinite Universe anything can happen.

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...