Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

A leader leads by example not by force.

Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.

I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons.

I still believe that all you need is love.

"I'd far rather be happy than right any day." Slartibartfast

Change before you have to.

You can't be wise and in love at the same time.

Marvin: "I am at a rough estimate thirty billion times more intelligent than you. Let me give you an example. Think of a number, any number."
Zem: "Er, five."
Marvin: "Wrong. You see?"

"If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now."

Anything you don't understand, Mr. Rankin, you attribute to God. God for you is where you sweep away all the mysteries of the world, all the challenges to our intelligence. You simply turn your mind off and say God did it.

It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy.

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."

Control your temper. Remember, you can measure the size of a person by what makes him or her angry.

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.

Arthur: "Marvin, any ideas?"
Marvin: "I have a million ideas. They all point to certain death."

"You guys are so unhip it's a wonder your bums don't fall off."

Three-fourths of the people you will ever meet are hungering and thirsting for sympathy. Give it to them, and they will love you.

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