The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

by

Douglas Adams

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Trillian is a woman from earth who left six months before the planet is destroyed by the Vogons. Trillian has “a degree in math and another in astrophysics,” which is why she decided to travel to outer space: “what else was there to do” on earth? One night, while attending a party, she met Zaphod, who was paying earth a rare visit. On that same night, Arthur tried to flirt with her, but Zaphod approached and said, “Hey, doll, is this guy boring you? Why don’t you talk to me instead? I’m from a different planet.” Since then, she has been traveling with Zaphod. A voice of reason, she often critiques the “freewheel[ing]” president, pointing out errors in his thinking. Beyond this, she doesn’t play a very large role in the novel, as Douglas Adams fails to incorporate her in the majority of the characters’ conversations.

Trillian Quotes in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy quotes below are all either spoken by Trillian or refer to Trillian. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Meaninglessness and Happiness Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

He tapped irritably at a control panel. Trillian quietly moved his hand before he tapped anything important. Whatever Zaphod’s qualities of mind might include—dash, bravado, conceit—he was mechanically inept and could easily blow the ship up with an extravagant gesture. Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason he had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did.

Related Characters: Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn’t be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn’t understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. He was renowned for being amazingly clever and quite clearly was so—but not all the time, which obviously worried him, hence the act. He preferred people to be puzzled rather than contemptuous. This above all appeared to Trillian to be genuinely stupid, but she could no longer be bothered to argue about it.

Related Characters: Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:

“Can we work out,” said Zaphod, “from their point of view what the Improbability of their rescue was?”

“Yes, that’s a constant,” said Trillian, “two to the power of two hundred and seventy-six thousand, seven hundred and nine to one against.”

“That’s high. They’re two lucky lucky guys.”

“Yes.”

“But relative to what we were doing when the ship picked them up…”

Trillian punched up the figures. They showed two-to-the-power-of-Infinity-minus-one to one against (an irrational number that only has a conventional meaning in Improbability Physics).

Related Characters: Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian
Related Symbols: The Heart of Gold
Page Number: 101
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

The Heart of Gold fled on silently through the night of space, now on conventional photon drive. Its crew of four were ill at ease knowing that they had been brought together not of their own volition or by simple coincidence, but by some curious perversion of physics—as if relationships between people were susceptible to the same laws that governed the relationships between atoms and molecules.

As the ship’s artificial night closed in they were each grateful to retire to separate cabins and try to rationalize their thoughts.

Related Characters: Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian
Related Symbols: The Heart of Gold
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy PDF

Trillian Quotes in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy quotes below are all either spoken by Trillian or refer to Trillian. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Meaninglessness and Happiness Theme Icon
).
Chapter 11 Quotes

He tapped irritably at a control panel. Trillian quietly moved his hand before he tapped anything important. Whatever Zaphod’s qualities of mind might include—dash, bravado, conceit—he was mechanically inept and could easily blow the ship up with an extravagant gesture. Trillian had come to suspect that the main reason he had had such a wild and successful life was that he never really understood the significance of anything he did.

Related Characters: Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn’t be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn’t understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. He was renowned for being amazingly clever and quite clearly was so—but not all the time, which obviously worried him, hence the act. He preferred people to be puzzled rather than contemptuous. This above all appeared to Trillian to be genuinely stupid, but she could no longer be bothered to argue about it.

Related Characters: Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:

“Can we work out,” said Zaphod, “from their point of view what the Improbability of their rescue was?”

“Yes, that’s a constant,” said Trillian, “two to the power of two hundred and seventy-six thousand, seven hundred and nine to one against.”

“That’s high. They’re two lucky lucky guys.”

“Yes.”

“But relative to what we were doing when the ship picked them up…”

Trillian punched up the figures. They showed two-to-the-power-of-Infinity-minus-one to one against (an irrational number that only has a conventional meaning in Improbability Physics).

Related Characters: Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian
Related Symbols: The Heart of Gold
Page Number: 101
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

The Heart of Gold fled on silently through the night of space, now on conventional photon drive. Its crew of four were ill at ease knowing that they had been brought together not of their own volition or by simple coincidence, but by some curious perversion of physics—as if relationships between people were susceptible to the same laws that governed the relationships between atoms and molecules.

As the ship’s artificial night closed in they were each grateful to retire to separate cabins and try to rationalize their thoughts.

Related Characters: Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian
Related Symbols: The Heart of Gold
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis: