--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Watching the towers fall in New York…" description: "\"“Watching the towers fall in New York, with civilians incinerated on the planes and in the buildings, I felt something that I couldn’t analyze at first..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a93/christopher-hitchens-117_2001_watching-the-towers-fall-in-new-york-wit_2359115.jpg" --- # Watching the towers fall in New York, with civilians… ![“Watching the towers fall in New York, with civilians incinerated on the planes and in the buildings, I felt something that I couldn’t analyze at first and didn't fully grasp (partly because I was far from my family in Washington, who had a very grueling day) until the day itself was nearly over. I…” quote by Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a93/christopher-hitchens-117_2001_watching-the-towers-fall-in-new-york-wit_2359115.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a93/christopher-hitchens-117_2001_watching-the-towers-fall-in-new-york-wit_2359115.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a93/christopher-hitchens-117_2001_watching-the-towers-fall-in-new-york-wit_2359115.jpg) > ““Watching the towers fall in New York, with civilians incinerated on the planes and in the buildings, I felt something that I couldn’t analyze at first and didn't fully grasp (partly because I was far from my family in Washington, who had a very grueling day) until the day itself was nearly over. I am only slightly embarrassed to tell you that this was a feeling of exhilaration. Here we are then, I was thinking, in a war to the finish between everything I love and everything I hate. Fine. We will win and they will lose. A pity that we let them pick the time and place of the challenge, but we can and we will make up for that.”” [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker describes an unexpected exhilaration amid tragedy, framing it as a personal battle between love and hate, and expressing a resolve to overcome adversity despite feeling manipulated by circumstances. **In simple terms:** Even in horror, a fierce drive can emerge. Key Takeaway Channel intense emotions into purpose. Themes war tragedy psychology Mood intense conflicted Type reflective philosophical When to use this quote - conflict zones - personal loss - emergency response - mental health coping Key Concepts resilience motivation Questions to Reflect On - What drives your resolve in crisis? - How do you balance empathy with determination? A Different Perspective Glorifying conflict can romanticize suffering. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [New york](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/new-york/) [Terrorism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/terrorism/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [War on terror](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war-on-terror/) [Washington dc](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/washington-dc/) ## Related quotes > [Here we are then, I was thinking, in a war to the finish between everything I love and everything I hate. Fine. We will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/here-we-are-then-i-was-thinking-in-a-war-to-the-finish-between/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Then all at once our personal and political quarrels were made very abruptly to converge. In the special edition of the London Review of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/then-all-at-once-our-personal-and-political-quarrels-were-made-very/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“At least two important conservative thinkers, Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss, were unbelievers or nonbelievers and in any case contemptuous of Christianity. I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/at-least-two-important-conservative-thinkers-ayn-rand-and-leo-strauss/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [ “Some readers may have noticed an icy little missive from Noam Chomsky \["Letters," December 3\], repudiating the very idea that he and I had… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/some-readers-may-have-noticed-an-icy-little-missive-from-noam-chomsky/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“The North Korean capital, Pyongyang, is a city consecrated to the worship of a father-son dynasty. (I came to think of them, with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/the-north-korean-capital-pyongyang-is-a-city-consecrated-to-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds; High towers fall with a heavier crash; And the lightning strikes the highest mountain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/the-lofty-pine-is-oftenest-shaken-by-the-winds-high-towers-fall-with/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [If I had been president, I would have come out and declared: "Nothing there, ever! This place stays as it is. We make a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luigi-colani/if-i-had-been-president-i-would-have-come-out-and-declared-nothing/) [Luigi Colani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luigi-colani/) > [“Shrouded as he was for a decade in an apparent cloak of anonymity and obscurity, Osama bin Laden was by no means an invisible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/shrouded-as-he-was-for-a-decade-in-an-apparent-cloak-of-anonymity-and/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Remaining for a moment with the question of legality and illegality: United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368, unanimously passed, explicitly recognized the right of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/remaining-for-a-moment-with-the-question-of-legality-and-illegality/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [ “\[T\]his is an enemy for life, as well as an enemy of life.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/t-his-is-an-enemy-for-life-as-well-as-an-enemy-of-life/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“As to the 'Left' I'll say briefly why this was the finish for me. Here is American society, attacked under open skies in broad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/as-to-the-left-i-ll-say-briefly-why-this-was-the-finish-for-me-here/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Now is as good a time as ever to revisit the history of the Crusades, or the sorry history of partition in Kashmir, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/now-is-as-good-a-time-as-ever-to-revisit-the-history-of-the-crusades/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Suppose that we agree that the two atrocities can or may be mentioned in the same breath. Why should we do so? I wrote…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/suppose-that-we-agree-that-the-two-atrocities-can-or-may-be-mentioned/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“As he defended the book one evening in the early 1980s at the Carnegie Endowment in New York, I knew that some of what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/as-he-defended-the-book-one-evening-in-the-early-1980s-at-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“It can certainly be misleading to take the attributes of a movement, or the anxieties and contradictions of a moment, and to personalize or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-can-certainly-be-misleading-to-take-the-attributes-of-a-movement/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) ## More by Christopher Hitchens > [“The spirit of our accurate and exact philosophy is outraged by conclusions that contradict each other so glaringly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/the-spirit-of-our-accurate-and-exact-philosophy-is-outraged-by/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Many governments employ torture but this was the first time that the element of Saturnalia and pornography in the process had been made so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/many-governments-employ-torture-but-this-was-the-first-time-that-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [ It's \[Los Angeles\] mostly full of nonsense and delusion and egomania. They think they'll be young and beautiful forever, even though most of them… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-s-los-angeles-mostly-full-of-nonsense-and-delusion-and-egomania/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [To be against rationalization is not the same as to be opposed to reasoning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/to-be-against-rationalization-is-not-the-same-as-to-be-opposed-to/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [ \[Religion\] attacks us in our deepest integrity - the core of our self-respect. Religion says that we would not know right from wrong, we… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/religion-attacks-us-in-our-deepest-integrity-the-core-of-our-self/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“In the very recent past, we have seen the Church of Rome befouled by its complicity with the unpardonable sin of child rape, or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/in-the-very-recent-past-we-have-seen-the-church-of-rome-befouled-by/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [It's surprising to me how many of my friends send Christmas cards, or holiday cards, including my atheist and secular friends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-s-surprising-to-me-how-many-of-my-friends-send-christmas-cards-or/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [Suppose there were groups of secularists at hospitals who went round the terminally ill and urged them to adopt atheism: 'Don't be a mug…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/suppose-there-were-groups-of-secularists-at-hospitals-who-went-round/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [There are, after all, atheists who say they wish the fable were true but are unable to suspend the requisite disbelief, or who have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/there-are-after-all-atheists-who-say-they-wish-the-fable-were-true/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“It isn’t so long since a test of Anglican orthodoxy was applied to anyone seeking to study or teach at Oxford and Cambridge universities.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-isn-t-so-long-since-a-test-of-anglican-orthodoxy-was-applied-to/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [Gullibility and credulity are considered undesireable qualities in every department of human life - except religion ... Why are we praised by godly men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/gullibility-and-credulity-are-considered-undesireable-qualities-in/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [It's much worse to see a woman drunk than a man: I don't know quite why this is true but it just is. Don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-s-much-worse-to-see-a-woman-drunk-than-a-man-i-don-t-know-quite/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [It's true that obscenity is a matter of taste and in the eye of the beholder.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-s-true-that-obscenity-is-a-matter-of-taste-and-in-the-eye-of-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [I worked out early on to give up things I couldn't do well at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/i-worked-out-early-on-to-give-up-things-i-couldn-t-do-well-at-all/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [Writing is what's important to me, and anything that helps me do that - or enhances and prolongs and deepens and sometimes intensifies argument…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/writing-is-what-s-important-to-me-and-anything-that-helps-me-do-that/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) [Explore all 1,241 Christopher Hitchens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) ## More 2001 quotes > [“In 2001, the internet and email was facilitating my international job search that ultimately landed me in Hawaii, managing the world’s largest telescopes atop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/in-2001-the-internet-and-email-was-facilitating-my-international-job/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [“At least two important conservative thinkers, Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss, were unbelievers or nonbelievers and in any case contemptuous of Christianity. I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/at-least-two-important-conservative-thinkers-ayn-rand-and-leo-strauss/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“The North Korean capital, Pyongyang, is a city consecrated to the worship of a father-son dynasty. (I came to think of them, with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/the-north-korean-capital-pyongyang-is-a-city-consecrated-to-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Managers who inspire extraordinary loyalty from their people tend to be highly charismatic, humorous, good-looking, and tall. So, by all means, strive to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-demarco/managers-who-inspire-extraordinary-loyalty-from-their-people-tend-to/) [Tom DeMarco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-demarco/) > [“To seek the self, one must first have a clear idea of what one is looking for. Thus, some meditation manuals advise actively cultivating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-s-lopez-jr/to-seek-the-self-one-must-first-have-a-clear-idea-of-what-one-is/) Donald S. Lopez Jr > [“In addition to the smells of mince and pumpkin pies, the Sage and onions of turkey stuffing, another aroma floated in the air, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lloyd-alexander/in-addition-to-the-smells-of-mince-and-pumpkin-pies-the-sage-and/) [Lloyd Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lloyd-alexander/) > [“The destruction of this universe would have no significance on a cosmic scale.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kubrick/the-destruction-of-this-universe-would-have-no-significance-on-a/) [Stanley Kubrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kubrick/) > [“If you are a woman, if you're a person of colour, if you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, if you are a person of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cho/if-you-are-a-woman-if-you-re-a-person-of-colour-if-you-are-gay/) [Margaret Cho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cho/) > [ “Some readers may have noticed an icy little missive from Noam Chomsky \["Letters," December 3\], repudiating the very idea that he and I had… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/some-readers-may-have-noticed-an-icy-little-missive-from-noam-chomsky/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“Then all at once our personal and political quarrels were made very abruptly to converge. In the special edition of the London Review of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/then-all-at-once-our-personal-and-political-quarrels-were-made-very/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [“In 2001, the Associated Press published a three-part investigation into the theft of black-owned land stretching back to the antebellum period. The series documented…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/in-2001-the-associated-press-published-a-three-part-investigation/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) Browse all 12 2001 quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Watching the towers fall in New York, with civilians incinerated on the planes and in the buildings, I felt something that I couldn’t analyze at first and didn't fully grasp (partly because I was far from my family in Washington, who had a very grueling day) until the day itself was nearly over. I am only slightly embarrassed to tell you that this was a feeling of exhilaration. Here we are then, I was thinking, in a war to the finish between everything I love and everything I hate. Fine. We will win and they will lose. 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