How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one—more popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty More Things to do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes, and Who is this God Person Anyway? (Introduction.13)
In a book prominently featuring a book, one of our biggest examples of culture is going to be… a book. But books are complicated: big books eat up little books, and some books cause the extinction of other books. Here, we're introduced to the other major books of the galaxy, and what do we see?: a book about house upkeep, a sort of guidebook or coffee table book, and three books of philosophy. That makes it seem like readers in the galaxy really want some guidance or answers in their lives. No 50 Shades of Grey here.
Quote #2
Here's what the Encyclopedia Galactica has to say about alcohol. It says that alcohol is a colorless volatile liquid formed by the fermentation of sugars and also notes its intoxicating effect on certain carbon-based life forms.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. (2.1-2)
Galactic culture isn't the same everywhere, as we can see in the way these two books deal with the question of alcohol: some people probably prefer the simple, scientific tone of the Encyclopedia Galactica, whereas others probably prefer hearing a drink suggestion from Hitchhiker's. This isn't a case of Earth culture vs. alien culture. Both of these books are thoroughly alien, proving that culture isn't the same all over.
Quote #3
Together and between them they had gone to and beyond the furthest limits of physical laws, restructured the fundamental fabric of matter, strained, twisted, and broken the laws of possibility and impossibility, but still the greatest excitement of all seemed to be to meet a man with an orange sash round his neck. (4.23)
These are the engineers and scientists who created the Heart of Gold spaceship, so they have something to be excited about: they've "strained, twisted, and broken" the laws of physics and probability (and made a spaceship that looks like a sneaker). But still, what really excites them is meeting a powerless man in a sash—the President. In their culture, people drop everything to meet the president. They can break the laws of physics, but they can't break the unwritten laws of their culture.