A pencil lies beside a blank grid on a sheet of paper with a small gold bowl and dried sprig on a mustard-yellow surface.

Original artwork, not a still

Young Zaphod Plays It Safe • 1986

Douglas Adams

Yeah, well, maybe I don't feel so keen on doing it all of a sudden. What do you think I am, completely without any moral whatsits, what are they called, those moral things?

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker suddenly hesitates about something they were going to do. They defend their morals while struggling to remember what to call them. That clash makes the claim to principle sound comically uncertain.

Context reviewed

Share this quote