--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The road we have long been traveling is…" description: "\"The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster.\" —..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e4/rachel-carson-2645_disaster_the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is_1946059.png" --- # The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy… ![“The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster.” quote by Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e4/rachel-carson-2645_disaster_the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is_1946059.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e4/rachel-carson-2645_disaster_the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is_1946059.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e4/rachel-carson-2645_disaster_the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is_1946059.png) > “The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster.” [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The path that seems easy and fast can lead to catastrophe if we ignore hidden risks. **In simple terms:** Easy paths can hide danger. Key Takeaway Beware hidden dangers in smooth progress. Themes environment risk progress consequences Mood cautious reflective Type warning inspirational When to use this quote - policy making - environmental planning - infrastructure development - personal decisions Key Concepts sustainability precautionary principle Questions to Reflect On - What hidden risks do you overlook in your projects? - How can you spot early warning signs? A Different Perspective Smooth progress may mask systemic flaws. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Deceptively Easy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deceptively-easy-650017/) [Disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) [Easy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/easy/) [Ends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends/) [Journey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/journey/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progress/) [Smooth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smooth/) [Smooth Superhighway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smooth-superhighway-3129209/) [Speed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speed/) [Superhighway Progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superhighway-progress-3129211/) [Travel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/travel/) [Traveling Deceptively](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traveling-deceptively-3129210/) ## Related quotes > [To the untrained eye, poker seems deceptively easy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-konnikova/to-the-untrained-eye-poker-seems-deceptively-easy/) [Maria Konnikova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-konnikova/) > [Always take hold of things by the smooth handle grateful that they are not worse rather than the rough handle, bitter that they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/always-take-hold-of-things-by-the-smooth-handle-grateful-that-they/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [I stood beside a hill Smooth with new-laid snow, A single star looked out From the cold evening glow. There was not other creature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-teasdale/i-stood-beside-a-hill-smooth-with-new-laid-snow-a-single-star-looked/) [Sara Teasdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-teasdale/) > [For all of us today, the battle is in our hands. The road ahead is not altogether a smooth one. There are no broad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/for-all-of-us-today-the-battle-is-in-our-hands-the-road-ahead-is-not/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) > [I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-gave-my-heart-to-the-mountains-the-minute-i-stood-beside-this-river/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [i like my body when it is with your body. It is so quite new a thing. 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Most team sport is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-peart/it-s-interesting-i-ve-known-quite-a-few-good-athletes-that-can-t/) [Neil Peart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-peart/) > [Shall we keep men in a fool's paradise? Shall we lull them into soft slumbers from which they will awake in hell? Are we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/shall-we-keep-men-in-a-fool-s-paradise-shall-we-lull-them-into-soft/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [Regular geometry, the geometry of Euclid, is concerned with shapes which are smooth, except perhaps for corners and lines, special lines which are singularities,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/regular-geometry-the-geometry-of-euclid-is-concerned-with-shapes/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [Splutter, splutter. Yes - we're off - we're rising. But why start off with an engine like that? But it smooths out now, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/splutter-splutter-yes-we-re-off-we-re-rising-but-why-start-off-with/) [Anne Morrow Lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [As we go through this transition where a lot more people will be reading on devices, nobody is paying enough attention to make sure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-patterson/as-we-go-through-this-transition-where-a-lot-more-people-will-be/) [James Patterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-patterson/) > [I take the seashell from my jeans pocket and rub my fingers across its silken, indented surface, shallow as my own open hand. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katrina-kenison/i-take-the-seashell-from-my-jeans-pocket-and-rub-my-fingers-across/) [Katrina Kenison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katrina-kenison/) > [Be in a state of gratitude for everything that shows up in your life. Be thankful for the storms as well as the smooth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/be-in-a-state-of-gratitude-for-everything-that-shows-up-in-your-life/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) ## More by Rachel Carson > [It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/it-was-a-spring-without-voices-on-the-mornings-that-had-once-throbbed/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [When we go down to the low-tide line, we enter a world that is as old as the earth itself - the primeval meeting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/when-we-go-down-to-the-low-tide-line-we-enter-a-world-that-is-as-old/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/there-is-no-drop-of-water-in-the-ocean-not-even-in-the-deepest-parts/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [The control of nature is a phrase conceived in arrogance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/the-control-of-nature-is-a-phrase-conceived-in-arrogance/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/wonder-and-humility-are-wholesome-emotions-and-they-do-not-exist-side/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [Only within the 20th Century has biological thought been focused on ecology, or the relation of the living creature to its environment. Awareness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/only-within-the-20th-century-has-biological-thought-been-focused-on/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [It is not half so important to know as to feel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/it-is-not-half-so-important-to-know-as-to-feel/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [The Choice, after all, is ours to make.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/the-choice-after-all-is-ours-to-make/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [Now I truly believe that we in this generation must come to terms with nature, and I think we're challenged, as mankind has never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/now-i-truly-believe-that-we-in-this-generation-must-come-to-terms/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [Any concept of biology is not only sterile and profitless, it is distorted and untrue, if it puts its primary focus on unnatural conditions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/any-concept-of-biology-is-not-only-sterile-and-profitless-it-is/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [Autumn comes to the sea with a fresh blaze of phosphorescence, when every wave crest is aflame. Here and there the whole surface may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/autumn-comes-to-the-sea-with-a-fresh-blaze-of-phosphorescence-when/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [“The sea is blue because the sunlight is reflected back to our eyes from the water molecules or from very minute particles suspended in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/the-sea-is-blue-because-the-sunlight-is-reflected-back-to-our-eyes/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/if-i-had-influence-with-the-good-fairy-who-is-supposed-to-preside/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [Over increasingly large areas of the United States, spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/over-increasingly-large-areas-of-the-united-states-spring-now-comes/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) > [I like to define biology as the history of the earth and all its life - past, present, and future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/i-like-to-define-biology-as-the-history-of-the-earth-and-all-its-life/) [Rachel Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) [Explore all 156 Rachel Carson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/) ## More Disaster quotes > [Public infrastructure around the world is facing unprecedented stress, with hurricanes, cyclones, floods and forest fires all increasing in frequency and intensity. It's easy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/public-infrastructure-around-the-world-is-facing-unprecedented-stress/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [Real people speak in my books about the main events of the age, such as the war, the Chernobyl disaster, and the downfall of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/svetlana-alexievich/real-people-speak-in-my-books-about-the-main-events-of-the-age-such/) [Svetlana Alexievich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/svetlana-alexievich/) > [One of the undervalued contributors to Trump's stunning 2016 victory was the masterful performance Pence had in his debate against Hillary Clinton running mate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mollie-hemingway/one-of-the-undervalued-contributors-to-trump-s-stunning-2016-victory/) [Mollie Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mollie-hemingway/) > [You know, we can't beat ISIS. We can't do anything. We can't take care of our vets. We can't have good health care. "Obama…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/you-know-we-can-t-beat-isis-we-can-t-do-anything-we-can-t-take-care/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [My mind shrank from the menace sweeping down on us, as children's do from belief in death and misfortune, vainly clinging to the fancy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-pankhurst/my-mind-shrank-from-the-menace-sweeping-down-on-us-as-children-s-do/) [Sylvia Pankhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-pankhurst/) > [The compensations of calamity are made apparent to the understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-compensations-of-calamity-are-made-apparent-to-the-understanding/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [You can't have people making decisions about the future of the world who are scientifically illiterate. That's a recipe for disaster. And I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/you-can-t-have-people-making-decisions-about-the-future-of-the-world/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“She was—of course—perfectly normal— quiet and polite and reasonably intelligent and...normal and self destructive and lonely and terrified of every thing And she loved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tah-the-trickster/she-was-of-course-perfectly-normal-quiet-and-polite-and-reasonably/) [Tah the Trickster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tah-the-trickster/) > [Obviously, it's my goal to be the top scorer in the Bundesliga, but it wouldn't be a disaster if I didn't achieve that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-gomez/obviously-it-s-my-goal-to-be-the-top-scorer-in-the-bundesliga-but-it/) [Mario Gomez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mario-gomez/) > [Yes, life in Chechnya so far looks more like a life after a natural disaster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/yes-life-in-chechnya-so-far-looks-more-like-a-life-after-a-natural/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [Even disasters -- there are always disasters when you travel -- can be turned into adventures.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-french/even-disasters-there-are-always-disasters-when-you-travel-can-be/) [Marilyn French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-french/) > [We are always just one successful terrorist attack away from a nuclear disaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-thompson/we-are-always-just-one-successful-terrorist-attack-away-from-a/) [Fred Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-thompson/) > [WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH, n. In the Ojibwa tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/whangdepootenawah-n-in-the-ojibwa-tongue-disaster-an-unexpected/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [Architects mostly work for privileged people, people who have money and power, Power and money are invisible, so people hire us to visualize their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shigeru-ban/architects-mostly-work-for-privileged-people-people-who-have-money/) [Shigeru Ban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shigeru-ban/) > [The only aspect of our travels that is interesting to others is disaster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-gellmanmartha-gellman/the-only-aspect-of-our-travels-that-is-interesting-to-others-is/) [Martha GellmanMartha Gellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-gellmanmartha-gellman/) [Browse all 2,239 Disaster quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disaster/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rachel Carson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is-deceptively-easy-a-smooth/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Disaster" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is-deceptively-easy-a-smooth/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e4/rachel-carson-2645_disaster_the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is_1946059.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e4/rachel-carson-2645_disaster_the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is_1946059.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e4/rachel-carson-2645_disaster_the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is_1946059.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with…” — Rachel Carson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rachel Carson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-carson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The road we have long been...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is-deceptively-easy-a-smooth/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-carson/the-road-we-have-long-been-traveling-is-deceptively-easy-a-smooth/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```