--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Later, I would come to think of those…" description: "\"“Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things: the hole in the o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/490/karen-thompson-walker-3430_catastrophes_later-i-would-come-to-think-of-those-fir_2915634.png" --- # Later, I would come to think of those first days as the… ![“Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things: the hole in the ozone layer, the melting of the ice caps, West Nile and swine flu and killer bees. But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in…” quote by Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/490/karen-thompson-walker-3430_catastrophes_later-i-would-come-to-think-of-those-fir_2915634.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/490/karen-thompson-walker-3430_catastrophes_later-i-would-come-to-think-of-those-fir_2915634.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/490/karen-thompson-walker-3430_catastrophes_later-i-would-come-to-think-of-those-fir_2915634.png) > ““Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things: the hole in the ozone layer, the melting of the ice caps, West Nile and swine flu and killer bees. But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different—unimagined, unprepared for, unknown.”” [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. We often focus on visible, measurable threats while the most devastating events are unforeseen and beyond current imagination. **In simple terms:** People worry about known problems, but real disasters are unexpected. Key Takeaway Stay adaptable and prepare for uncertainty. Themes environment uncertainty disaster preparedness human perception Mood anxious thoughtful cautious Type cautionary philosophical When to use this quote - climate policy debates - public health planning - personal risk management - emergency response training Key Concepts risk assessment unknown unknowns cognitive bias Questions to Reflect On - What unknown risks might we be ignoring? - How can societies balance attention between known and unknown threats? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on known risks can divert resources from preparing for unknown threats. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Catastrophes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/catastrophes/) [Disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) [Fears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fears/) [First Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-day/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [Killer bee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/killer-bee/) [Ozone layer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ozone-layer/) [Swine flu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/swine-flu/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/but-i-guess-it-never-is-what-you-worry-over-that-comes-to-pass-in-the/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“It never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different — unimagined, unprepared for, unknown.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/it-never-is-what-you-worry-over-that-comes-to-pass-in-the-end-the/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“The real catastrophes are always different-unimaginable, unprepared for, unknown”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/the-real-catastrophes-are-always-different-unimaginable-unprepared/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [I'm extremely worried. I'm worried about the survival of our species, worried about what we're doing, worried about being Americans, worried about depletion of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-c-boyle/i-m-extremely-worried-i-m-worried-about-the-survival-of-our-species/) [T.C. Boyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-c-boyle/) > [Worry comes from the belief you are powerless.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-anthony/worry-comes-from-the-belief-you-are-powerless/) [Robert Anthony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-anthony/) > [“When I don't have something to worry about, I worry. Nothing comes so naturally to a human being as anxiety and worry.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-richardson/when-i-don-t-have-something-to-worry-about-i-worry-nothing-comes-so/) [Brian Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-richardson/) > [“You worry, it comes. You don't worry, it comes. So what is the point of worry?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-ma/you-worry-it-comes-you-don-t-worry-it-comes-so-what-is-the-point-of/) [Jack Ma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-ma/) > [“Worry comes in when any work, political or otherwise, is done with a selfish motive. The secret of liberation in action lies in doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-ramdas/worry-comes-in-when-any-work-political-or-otherwise-is-done-with-a/) [Swami Ramdas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-ramdas/) > [Kind of like love before first sight.” and “Butterflies in your stomach. That was such a crappy metaphor. More like killer bees.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/kind-of-like-love-before-first-sight-and-butterflies-in-your-stomach/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“In the vast majority of cases, however, getting into trouble has nothing to do with one's self-esteem. It usually has much more to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lemony-snicket/in-the-vast-majority-of-cases-however-getting-into-trouble-has/) [Lemony Snicket](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lemony-snicket/) > [I have a phobia of checking voicemail. I watched a lot of TV as a kid, and everything is, like, you're gonna get kidnapped,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-e-clark/i-have-a-phobia-of-checking-voicemail-i-watched-a-lot-of-tv-as-a-kid/) [Annie E. Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-e-clark/) > [Roll big blunts, a whole ounce of reefer Rocked that 'Black and Yellow' before Wiz Khalifa It's a killer bee color scheme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ghostface-killah/roll-big-blunts-a-whole-ounce-of-reefer-rocked-that-black-and-yellow/) [Ghostface Killah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ghostface-killah/) > [“One young man who had a tattoo of a bumblebee on his arm (the symbol of his favorite reggae group) was identified as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauraet-magnani/one-young-man-who-had-a-tattoo-of-a-bumblebee-on-his-arm-the-symbol/) Lauraet Magnani > [For you to even touch my skill, You gotta have the one Killer Bee and he ain't gonna kill. Now...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/old-dirty-bastard/for-you-to-even-touch-my-skill-you-gotta-have-the-one-killer-bee-and/) [Old Dirty Bastard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/old-dirty-bastard/) > [“A vocalist joins the organ and the hum of whispers quiets—a swarm of killer bees distracted from their target as they remember the reason…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lexi-ryan/a-vocalist-joins-the-organ-and-the-hum-of-whispers-quiets-a-swarm-of/) [Lexi Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lexi-ryan/) ## More by Karen Thompson Walker > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [End-of-the-world stories tend to ring true. I've always been drawn to them, but as I wrote my own, I found surprising pleasure in creating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/end-of-the-world-stories-tend-to-ring-true-i-ve-always-been-drawn-to/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“Months later, Michaela's mother would spread a star chart before us and explain to me that the slowing had shifted everyone's astrological signs. Fortunes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/months-later-michaela-s-mother-would-spread-a-star-chart-before-us/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“Doesn't every previous era feel like fiction once it's gone?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/doesn-t-every-previous-era-feel-like-fiction-once-it-s-gone/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“I'd grown up hearing stories about the special hazards that girls faced. I knew where the bodies were found: naked on beaches or cut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/i-d-grown-up-hearing-stories-about-the-special-hazards-that-girls/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/but-i-guess-it-never-is-what-you-worry-over-that-comes-to-pass-in-the/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“Of all the strange phenomena that befell us that year, maybe nothing surprised me more than the sound of that small question rolling out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/of-all-the-strange-phenomena-that-befell-us-that-year-maybe-nothing/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [An editor is like a professional reader, and as I became a better reader, I also became a better writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/an-editor-is-like-a-professional-reader-and-as-i-became-a-better/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“I could no longer remember the way my mother's eyes looked before the slowing. Had they always been so red around the edges? Surely,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/i-could-no-longer-remember-the-way-my-mother-s-eyes-looked-before-the/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“She left her keys in the teeth of the lock where they would dangle all day.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/she-left-her-keys-in-the-teeth-of-the-lock-where-they-would-dangle/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [I fell in love with Virginia Woolf in college. I especially admire how well she writes about daily life, how she captures so much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/i-fell-in-love-with-virginia-woolf-in-college-i-especially-admire-how/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Our fears are an amazing gift of the imagination ... a way of glimpsing what might be the future when there's still time to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/our-fears-are-an-amazing-gift-of-the-imagination-a-way-of-glimpsing/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“I liked the idea, how the past could be preserved, fossilized, in the stars. I wanted to think that somewhere on the other end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/i-liked-the-idea-how-the-past-could-be-preserved-fossilized-in-the/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“I should have known by then that it's never the disasters you see coming that finally come to pass; it's the ones you don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/i-should-have-known-by-then-that-it-s-never-the-disasters-you-see/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Feeling earthquakes was part of growing up, and also preparing for them: doing earthquake drills, or having earthquake supplies. The looming feeling was part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/feeling-earthquakes-was-part-of-growing-up-and-also-preparing-for/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) [Explore all 115 Karen Thompson Walker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) ## More Catastrophes quotes > [“-only human beings can recognize catastrophes, provided they survive them; Nature recognizes no catastrophes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-frisch/only-human-beings-can-recognize-catastrophes-provided-they-survive/) [Max Frisch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-frisch/) > [The biggest catastrophes that we've witnessed rarely come from information that is secret or hidden. It comes from information that is freely available and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-heffernan/the-biggest-catastrophes-that-we-ve-witnessed-rarely-come-from/) [Margaret Heffernan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-heffernan/) > [“But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/but-i-guess-it-never-is-what-you-worry-over-that-comes-to-pass-in-the/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [“Is the destruction not, rather, irrefutable proof that the catastrophes which develop, so to speak, in our hands and seem to break out suddenly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/is-the-destruction-not-rather-irrefutable-proof-that-the-catastrophes/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [“In the history of art, late works are the catastrophes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adorno-theodor-w/in-the-history-of-art-late-works-are-the-catastrophes/) Adorno, Theodor W > [One of the strangest catastrophes that is in any history. A great king, with strong armies and mighty fleets, a great treasure and powerful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-burnet/one-of-the-strangest-catastrophes-that-is-in-any-history-a-great-king/) [Gilbert Burnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-burnet/) > [Catastrophes come when some dominant institution, swollen like a soap-bubble and still standing without foundations, suddenly crumbles at the touch of what may seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/catastrophes-come-when-some-dominant-institution-swollen-like-a-soap/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Probably most catastrophes end this way without an ending, the dead not even knowing how they died...,those who loved them forever questioning "this unnecessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-maclean/probably-most-catastrophes-end-this-way-without-an-ending-the-dead/) [Norman Maclean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-maclean/) > [The worst thing that will probably happen-in fact is already well underway-is not energy depletion, economic collapse, conventional war, or the expansion of totalitarian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-o-wilson/the-worst-thing-that-will-probably-happen-in-fact-is-already-well/) [E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-o-wilson/) > [One of the things government should be around for is to deal with catastrophes. It should do that well. To me, that's a government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-johnson/one-of-the-things-government-should-be-around-for-is-to-deal-with/) [Gary Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-johnson/) > [How can government reduce the frequency and the severity of future catastrophes? Companies that have the potential to create significant harm must be required…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-thaler/how-can-government-reduce-the-frequency-and-the-severity-of-future/) [Richard Thaler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-thaler/) > [War is a series of catastrophes which result in victory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-pike/war-is-a-series-of-catastrophes-which-result-in-victory/) [Albert Pike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-pike/) > [Unless we are willing to escape into sentimentality or fantasy, often the best we can do with catastrophes, even our own, is to find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-maclean/unless-we-are-willing-to-escape-into-sentimentality-or-fantasy-often/) [Norman Maclean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-maclean/) > [I'm not a fan of public school at all; I think it's one of the greatest catastrophes of American history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/krs-one/i-m-not-a-fan-of-public-school-at-all-i-think-it-s-one-of-the/) [KRS-One](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/krs-one/) > [I think I'm still chewing on my years as a foreign correspondent. I found myself covering catastrophes - war, uprising, famine, refugee crises -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geraldine-brooks/i-think-i-m-still-chewing-on-my-years-as-a-foreign-correspondent-i/) [Geraldine Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geraldine-brooks/) [Browse all 81 Catastrophes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/catastrophes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things: the hole in the ozone layer, the melting of the ice caps, West Nile and swine flu and killer bees. But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. 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