Listen, three eyes," he said, "don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal.
Douglas AdamsRead
Could be. I’m a pretty dangerous dude when I’m cornered.” “Yeah,” said the voice from under the table, “you go to pieces so fast people get hit by the shrapnel.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote humorously suggests that when someone feels threatened, they react in a chaotic way that can unintentionally affect those around them.
In this playful exchange, Douglas Adams illustrates a common human experience where feelings of being cornered or threatened can lead to panic and disarray. The humor lies in the metaphor of 'shrapnel', implying that one's emotional explosions can have collateral damage on others, emphasizing that our reactions to stress often have wider implications than we realize.
Themes
DangerousChaosReactionHumorStress
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about stress management techniques.
More from Douglas Adams
All quotes →"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" "Ask a glass of water."
Douglas AdamsRead
Protect me from knowing what I don't need to know. Protect me from even knowing that there are things to know that I don't know. Protect me from knowing that I decided not to know about the things that I decided not to know about. Amen. [...] Lord, lord, lord. Protect me from the consequences of the above prayer.
Douglas AdamsRead
Computers are still technology because we are still wrestling with it: it's still being invented; we're still trying to work out how it works. There's a world of game interaction to come that you or I wouldn't recognise. It's time for the machines to disappear. The computer's got to disappear into all of the things we use.
Douglas AdamsRead
What the computer in virtual reality enables us to do is to recalibrate ourselves so that we can start seeing those pieces of information that are invisible to us but have become important for us to understand.
Douglas AdamsRead
We are stuck with technology when all we really want is just stuff that works. How do you recognize something that is still technology? A good clue is if it comes with a manual.
Douglas AdamsRead
Similar quotes
I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humor.
Edward AlbeeRead
If I'm doing something on stage, and it evokes an emotion, then I might show that emotion, but I also don't believe in being a preacher. If you have a point, that's a bonus. But the funny has to come first; otherwise, you shouldn't call yourself a comedian.
Trevor NoahRead
When I first started doing my comedy act, I just desperately needed material. So I took literally everything I knew how to do on stage with me, which was juggling, magic and banjo and my little comedy routines. I always felt the audience sorta tolerated the serious musical parts while I was doing my comedy.
Steve MartinRead
Deep within the heart of every evangelist lies the wreck of a car salesman.
H. L. MenckenRead
Just to keep bad dreams at bay, she took a swig out of a bottle that smelled of apples and happy brain-death.
Terry PratchettRead
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George CarlinRead