Exactly!" said Deep Thought. "So once you do know what the question actually is, you'll know what the answer means.

Forty-two!" yelled Loonquawl. "Is that all you've got to show for seven and a half million years' work?"
"I checked it very thoroughly," said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is.

The Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything is...42!

If everyone knew exactly what I was going to say, then there would be no point in my saying it, would there?

The question is where do we go from here? The answer is -- life.

So this is it," said Arthur, "We are going to die."
"Yes," said Ford, "except... no! Wait a minute!" He suddenly lunged across the chamber at something behind Arthur's line of vision. "What's this switch?" he cried.
"What? Where?" cried Arthur, twisting round.
"No, I was only fooling," said Ford, "we are going to die after all.