Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
A dramatic warning can cause immediate panic and action.
In plain terms
Fearful messages make people flee quickly.
What can you take from it?
Beware of alarmist language.

Where it applies

  • emergency alerts
  • stock market crashes

Putting it to work

  • clear communication
  • calm response

Questions to consider

  • When is urgency justified?
  • How do we verify warnings?

Another view

Not all urgent messages are genuine.

More from Samuel Langhorne Clemens

  1. A lie can make it half way around the world before the truth has time to put its boots on. (This has also been attributed to Winston Churchill.)

    Permalink to quote #153
  2. Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.

    Permalink to quote #155
  3. 'When I, a thoughtful and unblessed Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane, not in all things, but in reli…

    Permalink to quote #152

Related quotes

  1. A lot of people come up to me and say, 'Oh God, I'm just like Karen, that's what they [tell me] at the office'. I'm like, 'You know what? The people in your of…

    Megan MullallyMegan Mullally quote #27
  2. When dark clouds full with new waters are thundering repeatedly, the ruttish wild elephants respond by trumpeting, on the premise that it is the she-elephant's…

    KalidasKalidas quote #1
  3. If a person is treated like a patient, they are apt to act like one.

    Frances FarmerFrances Farmer quote #1