“I love deadlines; I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by”
“I love deadlines; I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by” is usually credited to the English writer Douglas Adams (1952-2001), best known for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s not known when Adams first said the line that has been frequently credited to him since at least 1994.
The Dilbert comic strip, by Scott Adams, is sometimes credited, but there’s no evidence of the saying in any Dilbert comic strip. The “deadline” saying has appeared frequently in Internet collections of office quotations and jokes.
Wikipedia: Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a “trilogy” of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television series, several stage plays, comics, a computer game, and in 2005 a feature film. Adams’s contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy’s Hall of Fame.
Adams also wrote Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988), and co-wrote The Meaning of Liff (1983), Last Chance to See (1990), and three stories for the television series Doctor Who. A posthumous collection of his work, including an unfinished novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002.
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He was quoted as saying, “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” Despite the difficulty with deadlines, Adams wrote five novels in the series, published in 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, and 1992.
Google Books
The Internet Yellow Pages
By Harley Hahn and Rick Stout
Berkeley, CA: Osborne McGraw-Hill
1994
Pg. 261:
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.—Douglas Adams
Google Books
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Usenet Newsgroups
By Paul McFedries
Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books
1995
Pg. XV:
(This is important because I often agree with what Douglas Adams has said: “I like deadlines; I especially like the sound they make as they go whooshing by.”)
Google Books
Taking the Leap:
Building a career as a visual artist
By Cay Lang
San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books
1998
Pg. 121:
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
DOUGLAS ADAMS
11 June 1998, USA Today, “The joke’s on line” by Elizabeth Weise, Life, pg. 6D:
And at least one or two must, by the immutable law of the office, consist of a page of grinners like “I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.”
24 February 1999, Plainview (TX) Daily Herald, “Words of wisdom for work” by Danny Andrews:
I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
MC Press Online Forums
Guest
03-30-1999 03:27 AM
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‘I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.’ - Dilbert
7 December 1999, Aiken (SC) Standard, pg. 2B, col. 2:
I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
Vivian Lofgren, 87
BBC News
Saturday, 12 May, 2001, 15:59 GMT 16:59 UK
So long, and thanks for all the books
The author Douglas Adams, who has died aged 49, became a household name when his BBC TV series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was turned into a cult science fiction novel.
Adams had worked as a radio and television writer and producer before his life was changed by the book’s publication in 1979.
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But he was never a punctual writer.
Adams was once quoted as saying: “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
Google Books
The Salmon of Doubt:
Hitchhiking the Universe One Last Time
By Douglas Adams
New York, NY: Harmony Books
2002
Pg. ?:
“I love deadlines,” he has said. “I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”