The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The Hitchhikers Guide to... 1) by Douglas Adams

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Just before the Earth is demolished, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect.

“DON'T PANIC!”
“It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. 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--while 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.”
“Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”
“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 chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”
“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

The Thumb: Short squat black rod, smooth and matte with a couple of flat switches and dials at one end. The Thumb is used by Hitchhikers throughout the Galaxy to flag down passing starships.
GPP: Genuine People Personalities. Giving mechanisms their own unique affect.
Babel Fish: A living fish which, when placed in your ear, will live there and translate any form of language for you.
Deep Thought: The second-largest computer ever made. It was the size of a small city. Its main console was installed in a specially designed executive office, mounted on an enormous executive desk of finest ultramahagony topped with rich ultrared leather. The dark carpeting was discreetly sumptuous, exotic potted plants and tastefully engraved prints of the principal computer programmers and their families were deployed liberally about the room, and stately windows looked out upon a tree-lined public square.