Meaning of the quote

The quote suggests that the way we think about time is not always accurate. It says that time itself is an illusion, and that lunchtime is even more of an illusion. This means that the way we experience and measure time is not as straightforward as it seems. The passage of time and when we have lunch can feel very different from how we might expect them to.

About Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams was an acclaimed English author, best known for his iconic work ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. He was a talented writer, humourist, and screenwriter who also contributed to other notable projects, including Doctor Who and Monty Python’s Flying Circus. His unique blend of science fiction, wit, and philosophy made him a beloved figure in the literary and entertainment worlds.

More about the author

More quotes from Douglas Adams

The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

The mere thought hadn’t even begun to speculate about the merest possibility of crossing my mind.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the drug store, but that’s just peanuts to space.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

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

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

He hoped and prayed that there wasn’t an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn’t an afterlife.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

I think fish is nice, but then I think that rain is wet, so who am I to judge?

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

Life is wasted on the living.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

You live and learn. At any rate, you live.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

I don’t believe it. Prove it to me and I still won’t believe it.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher… or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

In order to fly, all one must do is simply miss the ground.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

The difficulty with this conversation is that it’s very different from most of the ones I’ve had of late. Which, as I explained, have mostly been with trees.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

If somebody thinks they’re a hedgehog, presumably you just give ’em a mirror and a few pictures of hedgehogs and tell them to sort it out for themselves.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

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?

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

Time is bunk.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

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.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

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

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

I’m spending a year dead for tax reasons.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry ‘I could have thought of that’ is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn’t, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Douglas Adams

English science fiction writer and humorist (1952-2001)