Statement of 1984, as quoted in Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Companion (1988) by Neil Gaiman, p. 2
Context: When you're a student or whatever, and you can't afford a car, or a plane fare, or even a train fare, all you can do is hope that someone will stop and pick you up.
At the moment we can't afford to go to other planets. We don't have the ships to take us there. There may be other people out there (I don't have any opinions about Life Out There, I just don't know) but it's nice to think that one could, even here and now, be whisked away just by hitchhiking.
“You can look out of your life like a train & see what you're heading for, but you can't stop the train.”
Letter to Monica Jones, 22 October 1967
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Philip Larkin 42
English poet, novelist, jazz critic and librarian 1922–1985Related quotes
“Open your eyes, train your ears, use your head. If a mind you have, then use it while you can.”
Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
“If a train doesn't stop at your station, then it's not your train.”
On her advice to poets in “The First Native American U.S. Poet Laureate on How Poetry Can Counter Hate” https://time.com/5658443/joy-harjo-poet-interview/ in Time Magazine (2019 Aug 22)
Early Morning Rain, Track 7, UAS-6487 The Song That Changed Everything http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFJ5Bj_put0
Lightfoot! (1966)
Context: The liquor tasted good and here the women all were fast...
You can't jump a jet plane
Like you can a freight train
So I'll best be on my way
In the early morning rain
“You can't be neutral on a moving train.”
Source: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times