Douglass Adams really hit the nail on the head in So Long and Thanks For All the Fish

WhitYourQuining · 5 months

Another good one:

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

CaptainJeff · 5 months

There's also this one from Mr. Adams.

"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."

richardroberts92 · 5 months

Douglas Adams writes about an insane universe that is profoundly similar to ours...

So Long and Thanks For All the Fish is my favourite book of all time!

“This planet has -- or rather had -- a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.”

wellthoughtout · 5 months

Occupy Magrathea

Tall_bright_stranger · 5 months

His whole explanation of power in the series is so frighteningly correct - this was just one of many examples... his explanation of precidency is even better - on how the president has no real power, and his main purpose is to draw attention away from the real use of power.

Haven't read the books? Do it. It's seriously the funniest reading material ever. On so many occations I burst out in laughter publicly while reading those books.

SOPAlert · 5 months

Under USC 17 Section 501, this quote could be considered copyright infringement. Even though USC 17 Section 107 would most likely classify this as fair use, imagine the deluge of complaints against Reddit that could transpire if SOPA is passed. Under immense pressures from the government, Reddit would become a shadow of what it is now. Do you want this to happen?

sonickarma · 5 months

My favorite Douglas Adams quote of all time:

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"

metaphorever · 5 months

See also, the Story of Mouseland.

NULLACCOUNT · 5 months

Relevant?

ttruth1 · 5 months

Pretty much perfect.

Cartosys · 5 months

You gotta realize the reptillian agenda is a rather widely popular conspiracy theory

tjblue · 5 months

How did he know?

5 months

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Semilogical · 5 months

David Icke actually believes that there are real lizard people in top government, corporations, and royal families. He is a nut job. Douglas Adams was brilliant.

Mettesc · 5 months

The only moral it is possible to draw from this story is that one should never throw the letter Q into a privet bush, but unfortunately there are times when it is unavoidable. - I am absolutely convinced that this piece of advice will come in handy at some point in my life, I'm just waiting..

bobloblaw11 · 5 months

Listen, bud, if I had one Altairian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say “That’s terrible” I wouldn’t be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

5 months

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sushi_cw · 5 months

Also from DA:

The major problem — one of the major problems, for there are several — one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.

deuteros · 5 months

Democracy is given almost religious deference in the West but in reality it encourages extreme shortsightedness in the government and just gives the voting public a false sense of control.

Democracy is something of an aberration in human history. It usually has a golden age of a few centuries before collapsing into some sort of autocracy. I think overall humans actually prefer monarchy, with a ruler that is strong enough to destroy enemies yet compassionate enough to treat his subjects like his children.

Fuego_Fiero · 5 months

My favorite quote by DA:

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"

Pretty much sums ups my views on spirituality.

Jimmy_Nertron · 5 months

"In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a great many people angry and is generally regarded as a bad idea."

theillway · 5 months

Douglas*

recket · 5 months

Adams is great! Here's another good one: "This planet has — or rather had — a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy."

smika · 5 months

This discussion seems to have devolved into a bunch of high-fiving, so I'm not sure if any dissenting views will even be tolerated. Nevertheless, I'll give it a go.

While Adams's analogy is clever, it's a lot more cynical than reality. It's quite easy to say that all political parties are equally bad or that all politicians are a bunch of slimy reptiles, but if you actually look at the course of history, you'll find that the choice of party that voters make does matter.

Why does everyone here always think Europe is so much better than the U.S.? They vote for their leaders just like (well sort of) we do. The difference is that the European population is on the balance more progressive than the U.S., and as a result their governments are more progressive. Hence, their countries have well-run government healthcare and other social services -- at the cost, of course, of higher taxes.

This is just one example. There are countless other differences that can be attributed to the people in charge. For example, I have yet to hear a compelling argument that we would have launched a military invasion of Iraq had Al Gore been President. It might not make much of a difference to you sitting comfortably in front of your computer, but I can bet it would have made a difference to about 400,000 dead Iraqis (to be fair, it also makes a difference to the millions of Iraqis who no longer live under Saddam Hussein's rule, for better or worse).

I'll be the first to admit that our government and two party system is a piece of fucking garbage that needs to be repaired ASAP (How? I don't know. Good question). But just because it's a dysfunctional piece of shit that doesn't mean the choice we exercise at the polls doesn't make a difference. It makes a big difference to a lot of people. It doesn't make nearly enough of a difference on many, many vitally important issues, but it still matters.

Anyhow, see this rant not as a defense of the status quo but more as a caution against unthinking cynicism.

Neocrasher · 5 months

So... What about the shoe event horizon?

lurker69 · 5 months

Didn't see this one:

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."

pgibso · 5 months

One of my favorite quotes of all time, "Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.' - Hitchhikers

drgk · 5 months

My dad died in March 2001 and Douglas Adams died in May 2001. That was a rough fucking year for me.

Rommel79 · 5 months

This is sadly accurate. I know MANY people who voted for/against President Obama just because they didn't want a Republican/Democrat in office. Many of them had no idea what the guy the voted for's actual opinions and plans were, just that the other side was bad.

animalia_ · 5 months

rip thanks for all the fish

Mofeux · 5 months

Adams had such an incredibly honest view of the world, what a marvelous human being.

Also, thank you for not posting this as text on a picture.

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