Inspiring 9/11 Quotes That Honor Courage, Unity, and Resilience

"The lesson of 9/11 is that America is truly exceptional. We withstood the worst attack of our history, intended by our enemies to destroy us. Instead, it drew us closer and made us more united. Our love for freedom and one another has given us a strength that surprised even ourselves."

- Rudy Giuliani

"Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It’s a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It’s also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend―even a friend whose name it never knew."

- George W. Bush

"We have seen the state of our union in the endurance of rescuers working past exhaustion. We've seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. We have seen the decency of a loving and giving people who have made the grief of strangers their own."

- Former President George W. Bush

"You can be sure that the American spirit will prevail over this tragedy."

- Colin Powell

"We didn’t crumble after 9/11. We didn’t falter after the Boston Marathon. But we’re America. Americans will never, ever stand down. We endure. We overcome. We own the finish line."

- President Joe Biden

"If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate."

- Sandy Dahl

"Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11."

- Barack Obama

"These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of America's resolve."

- George W. Bush

"When Americans lend a hand to one another, nothing is impossible. We’re not about what happened on 9/11. We’re about what happened on 9/12."

- Robert Reeg

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children."

- George W. Bush

"If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short, and there is no time for hate."

- Sandy Dahl, wife of United Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl

"The attacks of September 11th were intended to break our spirit. Instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom."

- Rudy Giuliani

"With almost no time to decide, [your loved ones] gave the entire country an incalculable gift. They saved the Capitol from attack. They saved God knows how many lives. They saved the terrorists from claiming the symbolic victory of smashing the center of American government. … They allowed us to survive as a country that could fight terror and still maintain liberty and still welcome people from all over the world from every religion and race and culture as long as they shared our values, because ­ordinary people given no time at all to decide did the right thing."

- President Bill Clinton in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in 2011

"One of the worst days in America’s history saw some of the bravest acts in Americans’ history. We’ll always honor the heroes of 9/11. And here at this hallowed place, we pledge that we will never forget their sacrifice."

- Former President George W. Bush

"Today, our nation saw evil -- the very worst of human nature -- and we responded with the best of America. With the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could."

- Then-President George W. Bush

"Remember the hours after September 11 when we came together as one! It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us."

- John Kerry

"Remember the hours after September 11th when we came together as one to answer the attack against our homeland. We drew strength when our firefighters ran up stairs and risked their lives so that others might live; when rescuers rushed into smoke and fire at the Pentagon; when the men and women of Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to save our nation’s Capitol; when flags were hanging from front porches all across America, and strangers became friends. It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us."

- Former Secretary of State John Kerry

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America."

- President George W. Bush

"After today, it is my hope and prayer that we continue to honor their courage, their conviction, with our own; that we honor their unity by strengthening our common bonds, by strengthening our global partnerships, and by always living out our highest ideals. This work will not be easy; it never has been. And it will take all of us believing in who we are as a nation. And it will take all of us going forth to work together."

- Vice President Kamala Harris

"On that terrible day, a nation became a neighborhood, all Americans became New Yorkers."

- Jeff Parness

"We got buried under more rubble, and I remember saying to myself, you can't be lucky enough to survive it twice. And I started to pray. When the thing settled down, and the rubble stopped piling up on top of us, I was still alive."

- Frank Razzano, 9/11 Survivor

"I was walking in the street right next to the firemen going directly into the area from which everyone else was evacuating. I could see the fearless intensity in their faces. They were going to put out the fire and save lives."

- Bob Swierupski, 9/11 Survivor

"I may never know the answers to the questions that plagued me after 9/11. But I know if we lean on God and each other, we will be guided to a better, brighter future."

- Michael Hingson, 9/11 survivor

"The attacks of September 11th were intended to break our spirit. Instead, we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom."

- Then-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

"With almost no time to decide, [your loved ones] gave the entire country an incalculable gift. They saved the Capitol from attack. They saved God knows how many lives. They saved the terrorists from claiming the symbolic victory of smashing the center of American government. … They allowed us to survive as a country that could fight terror and still maintain liberty and still welcome people from all over the world from every religion and race and culture as long as they shared our values, because ordinary people given no time at all to decide did the right thing."

- Former President Bill Clinton

"So many in our nation — too many in our nation — have deeply felt the passage of time these last 20 years. Every birthday your loved one missed. Every holiday. Every time her favorite team won, or his favorite song came on the radio. Every time you’ve tucked in your children or dropped them off at college. You have felt every day, every week, and every year that has passed these 20 years. So, please know your nation sees you, and we stand with you, and we support you."

- Vice President Kamala Harris

"We will win this struggle — not for glory, nor wealth, nor power, but for justice, for freedom, and for peace… so help us God."

- John Madden

"On September 11, I always take the day off. I want to be in a peaceful quiet place praying. It is a day I both mourn and celebrate."

- Genelle Guzman-McMillan

"The devastating punch we took on September 11 still reverberates throughout American society."

- Tom Harkin

"The only appropriate stance is unconditional solidarity with all victims. The ethical stance proper is replaced here by the moralizing mathematics of guilt and horror, which misses the key point: the terrifying death of each individual is absolute and incomparable."

- Slavoj Žižek

"I still have the shoes I wore to work that day. The soles are melted, and they’re caked in ash. I keep them in a shoebox with the word ‘deliverance’ written all around it. They’re kind of like my ark, a reminder of God’s presence and the life I owe to him."

- Stanley Praimnath

"We will win this struggle—not for glory, nor wealth, nor power, but for justice, for freedom, and for peace… so help us God."

- Tom Harkin

"Names etched on the head of a pin. One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel. A blue name needled into the skin. Names of citizens, workers, mothers, and fathers, The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son. Alphabet of names in a green field. Names in the small tracks of birds. Names lifted from a hat Or balanced on the tip of the tongue. Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory. So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart."

- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

"September 11 is one of our worst days but it brought out the best in us. It unified us as a country and showed our charitable instincts and reminded us of what we stood for and stand for."

- Lamar Alexander

"We will face new challenges — challenges that we could not have seen 20 years ago. We will seize opportunities that were at one time unimaginable. And we know that what lies ahead is not certain. It is never certain; it has never been. But I know this: If we do the hard work of working together as Americans, if we remain united in purpose, we will be prepared for whatever comes next."

- Vice President Kamala Harris

"For me and my family personally, September 11 was a reminder that life is fleeting, impermanent, and uncertain. Therefore, we must make use of every moment and nurture it with affection, tenderness, beauty, creativity, and laughter."

- Deepak Chopra

"Five years from the date of the attack that changed our world, we’ve come back to remember the valor of those we lost—those who innocently went to work that day and the brave souls who went in after them. We have also come to be ever mindful of the courage of those who grieve for them, and the light that still lives in their hearts."

- New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani

"I know that being here today is hard... I know that it aches to remember this milestone year after year. And I know that nothing can make it right... And, as the years go by, it may feel that the world is moving on or even forgetting what happened here on Sept. 11, 2001. But please know this: The men and women of the Department of Defense will always remember."

- Lloyd J. Austin III

"It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us."

- Senator John Kerry

"In the normal course of events, presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the union. Tonight, no such report is needed; it has already been delivered by the American people...My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of union, and it is strong."

- President George W. Bush

"Ten years have passed since a perfect blue sky morning turned into the blackest of nights. Since then we’ve lived in sunshine and in shadow, and although we can never unsee what happened here, we can also see that children who lost their parents have grown into young adults, grandchildren have been born and good works and public service have taken root to honor those we loved and lost."

- Michael Bloomberg

"Grief is the price we pay for love."

- Queen Elizabeth II

"What separates us from the animals, what separates us from the chaos, is our ability to mourn people we’ve never met."

- David Levithan

"September 11, 2001, revealed heroism in ordinary people who might have gone through their lives never called upon to demonstrate the extent of their courage."

- Geraldine Brooks

"I was in New York on September 11 when those planes hit the World Trade Center. At the time, it seemed like it was a local thing. But three or four days later, by the time we drove across the country in the bus, we realized it wasn’t a local thing. You could really feel the states become united. We became the United States of America."

- John Madden

"We all have a duty to devote at least a small portion of our daily lives to ensuring that neither America nor the world ever forgets September 11."

- Bill Frist

"Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened."

- Billy Graham

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."

- Harry Truman

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."

- Joseph Campbell

"The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men."

- Minot J. Savage

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it."

- Mark Twain

"Heroism doesn’t always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history."

- Mary Roach

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness."

- Desmond Tutu

"The first of our losses happened on September 11, 2001. Years later, during my freshman year at college, a popular topic of conversation in the dining hall was where you were on 9/11. I learned that no matter how far away you were from New York that day, no matter how distant your connection to that day was, no matter how much lower than zero the count of the people you lost on that day was, if you were white, 9/11 happened to you personally, with blunt and scalding force. Because the antithesis of an American is an immigrant and because we could not be victims in the public eye, we became suspects. And so September 11 changed the immigration landscape forever."

- Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

"My former attitude was the luxury of a sheltered child who got to his twenties without ever doubting the stability (and, smugly, I know, the superiority) of his country, without disaster. As it did to so many of my generation, 9/11 broke a stupor that should have broken well before. It seems impossible to me that people who weren't alive then will soon be getting their driver's licenses. When I zoom out, much of this country's history since that day seems a fitful, graceless descent to overseas violence and domestic paranoia. Terrorism works."

- Amit Majmudar

"It’s the nature of the world that most people have moved on, but the people directly involved with 9/11, for them, twice a day it’s 9/11."

"On September 11, I always take the day off. I want to be in a peaceful, quiet place praying. It is a day I both mourn and celebrate."

"On this day... 19 years (September 10th) ago, 246 people went to sleep in preparation for their morning flights. 2,606 people went to sleep in preparation for work in the morning. 343 firefighters went to sleep in preparation for their morning shift. 60 police officers went to sleep in preparation for morning patrol. 8 paramedics went to sleep in preparation for the morning shift. None of them saw past 10:00 am Sept 11, 2001. In one single moment life may never be the same. As you live and enjoy the breaths you take today and tonight before you go to sleep in preparation for your life tomorrow, kiss the ones you love, snuggle a little tighter, and never take one second of your life for granted."

"In the face of adversity, we rise. In the face of fear, we stand together."

"From tragedy, we built a community. From heartbreak, we found hope."

"The attacks aimed to divide us, but they brought us closer together."

"Let us not mourn for too long, but rather honor the fallen by living lives worthy of their sacrifice."

"On September 11, we remember the innocent lives lost, the heroes who stepped forward, and the unity that carried us through."

"9/11 was a reminder that the world is unpredictable, fragile, and sometimes full of tragedy. It was also a reminder that we are resilient, brave, and united."

"The spirit of 9/11 is the spirit of courage, resilience, and unity."

"In the aftermath of 9/11, we were not defined by the tragedy, but by our response."

"The bravery of the heroes of 9/11 reminds us that we are stronger together."

"We rose from the ashes stronger, braver, and more united than ever."

"The heroes of 9/11 ran into the fire, not away from it."

"We have seen so much heartache, but we have also seen resilience, strength, and courage."

"Patriot Day reminds us that from the ashes of tragedy, we rise with renewed purpose and strength."