Lisa Randall Quotes

I think we need to think beyond the issue of absolute risk.

The definition of 'safe' is not strictly an engineering term; it's a societal term. Does it mean absolutely no loss of life? Does it mean absolutely no contamination with radiation? What exactly does 'safe' mean?

Neither science, nor the politics in power, nor the mass media, nor business, nor the law nor even the military are in a position to define or control risks rationally.

Everything in life has some risk, and what you have to actually learn to do is how to navigate it.

When I take a risk, I like it to be a calculated risk, meaning I make it as small as possible.

Some of the most interesting research that I did was about risk assessment and how ordinary citizens like me handle risk assessment and how irregular our risk assessments are.

Risk analysis can cater to any sort of hazard, but their profession owes its existence to a relatively narrow band of possible dangers.

None of us live in a zero-risk world.

People are used to dealing with risk.

The ability to calibrate risk doesn't happen rationally.

I think people overestimate the risk of high-risk projects.

You can never protect yourself 100%. What you do is protect yourself as much as possible and mitigate risk to an acceptable degree. You can never remove all risk.

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

In business, you try to minimise risk.

People need to learn to live with more risk.

There is no elimination of all risks.

I think that we have to be constantly asking ourselves, 'How do we calculate the risk?' And sometimes we don't calculate it correctly; we either overstate it or understate it.

The advantage of knowing about risks is that we can change our behavior to avoid them. Of course, it is easily observed that to avoid all risks would be impossible; it might entail no flying, no driving, no walking, eating and drinking only healthy foods, and never being touched by sunshine. Even a bath could be dangerous.

It's only a risk if you think there's a chance of failure.

People say, 'Are you insane?' But the most successful climbers are the most calculating, with the most refined sense of risk. They're hyper-conscious of safety. They're the least insane people I know.

It is not the manager's job to prevent risks. It is the manager's job to make it safe to take them.

The best approach to risk is to identify and manage it.

When something looks really risky from the outside, what people are doing on the inside - they're not professional risk takers. But they're probably professional risk mitigators.

There's risk in everything that you do. It's up to you to measure those risks and do what you want to do.

However much risk we are taking, we can and probably should take more.