Top Amanda Ripley Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Amanda Ripley Biography

Amanda Ripley is an American journalist and author.

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Amanda Ripley Quotes

We don't talk about that at all as a country. I think that most people assume that there's nothing they could do if a nuclear bomb went off in their city. And that's just not true. Most people would survive most terrorist nuclear attacks because the bombs would likely be much smaller than those we were dealing with in the Cold War.

Cold, Country, People, Survive, Thinking, War

The public totally discounts low-probability high-consequence events. The individual says, it's not going to be this plane, this bus, this time.

Events, Individual, Management, Public, Risk, Says

Women in particular seem to say things like, "I'm sure I'd be the one screaming and not moving in an emergency. " I don't think that's the case. People who've been through really horrible life-or-death situations say that nobody behaves the way they would have expected. But that said, there are predictors.

Behaves, Expected, Moving, People, Things, Thinking

People with military experience seem to do very well in these situations. They've been taught that they can control their destiny, which is half the battle. They also have some experience in getting out of bad situations even if just through training. They know they have to make a plan and follow it and execute it.

Bad, Battle, Destiny, Know, Military, People

Resilience is a precious skill. People who have it tend to also have three underlying advantages: a believe that they can influence life events; a tendency to find meaningful purpose in life’s turmoil; and a conviction that they can learn from both positive and negative experiences.

Believe, Conviction, Meaningful, Positive, Skills

Most serious plane crashes are survivable. There's a sense that, 'Oh, if we go down, that's it, it's out of my hands. ' And that's just statistically not true. I have more optimism and more faith that my own actions can make a difference.

Differences, Hands, Optimism, Plane, Serious, Survivable

Paralysis seems to happen on the steepest slope of the survival arc—where almost all hope is lost, when escape seems impossible, and when the situation is unfamiliar to the extreme.

Extreme, Hope, Impossible, Lost, Survival

The one thread that was most surprising and most consistent was the lack of fear that people felt at the worst moment. They felt a lot of fear in early stages, when they're just realizing what's happening. But then things really seemed to be at their peak of terror, the fear went away. You can imagine why that's useful. At that moment your brain needs to focus all its attention on surviving, so people will feel a sense of calm as their brain tries to sort out a plan.

Consistent, Focus, Peak, People, Terror, Worst Moments

Narrative is the beginning of recovery.

Beginning, Narrative, Recovery

The health of your family or your office or your city directly affects the health of it after. The better you are at handling high-stress situations with little information, those skills lead to resilience and the ability to recover afterward.

Cities, Family, Office, Situations, Skills, Stress

We gauge risk literally hundreds of times per day, usually well and often subconsciously. We start assessing risk before the disaster even happens. We are doing is right now. We decide where to live and what kind of insurance to buy, just like we process all kinds of everyday risks: we wear bike helmets, or not. We buckle our seatbelts, smoke cigarettes, and let our kids stay out until midnight. Or not.

Bike, Everyday, Kids, Risk, Usually

People help way more than we expect, way more than makes sense. But when you talk to people called heroes, they often say they did it for themselves. In one case, a hero said that the cost of not doing it is so great, the sense of shame, when he knew that he was strong enough, that the fear of not doing anything was more frightening than the fear of dying.

Enough, Hero, Heroes, People, Strong

Boredom is the specter that haunts children from kindergarten to graduation on every continent.

Boredom, Children, Education, Graduation, Kindergarten

Most Korean parents saw themselves as coaches, while American parents tended to act more like cheerleaders.

American, Cheerleader, Korean, Like, Parent, Saws

You could reduce people's fears if you gave them some useful information before things went wrong. It's really important to create a sense of confidence in the public in their own abilities before a disaster because they're the only ones who are going to be there. No one's going to help you for at least 24 to 72 hours. So it would be good to know more about it.

Abilities, Help, Important, People, Reduce, Would Be

I can't tell you how many times I've been with very smart, knowledgeable Homeland Security experts who are essentially tasked with saving your life who do not trust you with information. They just don't. They kind of dismiss the media and the public in one fell swoop.

Essentially, Experts, Media, Security, Smart