Today we celebrate real-life heroes, the ones who are willing to put their own lives in danger to serve us – firefighters!
To that end, I’ve put together a collection of 100 most inspiring firefighter quotes that talk about the bravery of ordinary people who do extraordinary things.
So, let’s begin!
Top 10 Firefighter Quotes
1. “But sound aloud the praises, and give the victor-crown to our noble-hearted Firemen, who fear not danger’s frown.” — Frederic G.W. Fenn
2. “This job isn’t for everybody. It takes someone special to be a firefighter.” ― Glenn Corbett
3. “Our firefighters are our last line of defense, baby.” — Jack Scalia
4. “Firefighters are indispensable foot soldiers here at home.” — Christopher Dodd
5. “Firemen never die, they just burn forever in the hearts of the people whose lives they saved.” — Susan Diane Murphree
6. “Firefighters and rescue workers are American superheroes.” — Kerry Kennedy
7. “Firefighters are some of the most selfless public servants you will ever encounter.” — Denis Leary
8. “Firefighters don’t go on strike.” — Denis Leary
9. “Firefighter appreciation isn’t just a once-a-year affair because firefighters are there for each of us every day.” — Byron Pulsifer
10. “In fire, you can plan everything out to the minute, and a minute before that, everything changes.” — Dan Felix
See also: 240 Fire Captions For Instagram To Set The World On Fire
Firefighter Quotes To Spark Your Inspiration
1. “Being a firefighter is as close as you get to being a modern-day soldier in your home country.” — Tom Dawson
2. “People are always asking me how is it that firefighters run into a burning building when everyone else is running out. Courage is the answer. ” — Chief Kennedy, Ladder 49
3. “Firefighting – one of the few professions left that still makes house calls.” — Unknown
4. “Every firefighter knows that he is always susceptible to this type of tragedy. They go to work every day knowing that they are doing something so positive, that people really respect them and appreciate them.” — Thomas Von Essen
5. “Fire itself is very beautiful, and there’s an attachment to fire that firefighters have.” — Matthew Desmond
6. “Nothing cries out for compassion, concern, and danger as a fire engine screams by carrying firefighters ready to do battle without flinching from any demand.” — Byron Pulsifer
7. “Most people go to the office and sit at a desk. When firefighters go to the office, we might birth a baby in the morning, save a drowning surfer in the afternoon, and run into a fire at night. What could be more interesting than that?” — Caroline Paul
8. “When fire is cried and danger is neigh, ‘God and the fireman’ is the people’s cry; but when ‘tis out and all things righted, God is forgotten and the firemen slighted.” — Unknown
9. “You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartache for other folks, you are a pretty rich man.” ― Seth Parker
10. “Being a firefighter is hard. But, it is also rewarding. It feels good to help people when they are in trouble.” ― Melissa A. Settle
11. “The funny thing about firemen is, night and day, they are always firemen.” — Gregory Widen
12. “When the bell rang, a firefighter was expected to stop everything to help others.” ― Glenn Corbett
13. “Women love firefighters so much because it’s like a knight in shining armor kind of thing.” ― Taylor Kinney
14. “Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.’” — Baltasar Gracian
15. “A hero has faced it all: he need not be undefeated, but he must be undaunted.” — Andrew Bernstein
16. “Firefighter is one of the few jobs kind enough to warn me away by containing two words I’m not interested in, unlike the deceptive bookkeeper.” — Joel Stein
17. “Good Firefighters will know their job. Great Firefighters will also know the job of the person above them as well as teach their job to the person below them.” ― Bob Muszynski
18. “From maintaining public safety to educating our children to providing critical services, our police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers, teachers, librarians and so many other public employees are there for us when we need them most.” — Sara Gideon
19. “I’m like a fireman. When I go out on a call, I want to put out a big fire, I don’t want to put out a fire in a dumpster.” — Harrison Ford
20. “If crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?” — George Carlin
21. “Firefighters are always students; learning is required till retirement.” — Niles Fire Department
22. “When the deepest part of you becomes engaged in what you are doing… you are doing what you were meant to be doing.” — Gary Zukav
23. “I never met anybody in my life who says, I want to be a critic. People want to be a fireman, poet, novelist.” — Leslie Fiedler
24. “The role of a firefighter in today’s society – be it urban, rural, natural environment, volunteer, career, industrial, defense force, aviation, motor sport, or other is one of dedication, commitment and sacrifice – no matter what country we reside and work in. In the fire service we fight together against one common enemy – fire – no matter what country we come from, what uniform we wear or what language we speak.” — Lt JJ Edmondson
25. “That’s the life, being a fireman. It sure beats being a ballplayer. I’d rather be a fireman.” — Ted Williams
Firefighter Quotes To Honor Our Heroes
1. “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. “Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” — Bob Riley
3. “More often than not, a hero’s most epic battle is the one you never see; it’s the battle that goes on within him or herself” — Kevin Smith
4. “Firefighter required to perform all the necessary tasks in order to control an emergency situation.” ― Dennis
5. “A hero has faced it all: he need not be undefeated, but he must be undaunted.” — Andrew Bernstein
6. “Firefighters are everyday heroes who I think are often overlooked – so to get to play one as a part of a show that is doing a huge amount to try and pay tribute to them… I feel very lucky!” — Oliver Stark
7. “I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” — Christopher Reeve
8. “There are times when I feel over-rewarded for what I do for a living, especially when I compare what I can earn to what my brother earns as a firefighter.” ― Kate Thornton
9. “My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place – police, firefighters and members of our armed forces.” — Sidney Sheldon
10. “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” — Maya Angelou
11. “Firefighters also fill a variety of roles that help to keep the community safe.” ― Brian Rogers
12. “My dad’s a firefighter, so I know what it’s like for policemen and firefighters to be on their own on Christmas Day.” — J. J. Watt
13. “Real heroes are men who fall and fail and are flawed, but win out in the end because they’ve stayed true to their ideals and beliefs and commitments.” — Kevin Costner
14. “When you think of the sacrifices our firefighters make, think about the service of soldiers in foreign lands and listen to their lives, you have to be careful that whatever you do, don’t cast a shadow on what these great people do.” — Jim Brown
15. “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” — Joseph Campbell
16. “I think public sector workers, our teachers, our firefighters, our home health workers who work for states, they do God’s work. They are some of our most important employees.” — Tom Perez
17. “In terms of people who we call heroes – and I don’t tend to like that term, and firefighters don’t consider themselves heroes – but if you look at their job description, they are. Their job is to straight up save people.” — Jesse Spencer
18. “Working with real firefighters keeps us really grounded. How can you possibly complain that your trailer is not at the correct temperature when you are working with a man who ran out of a burning building to save someone’s life?” — Miranda Rae Mayo
19. “Firefighters are essential to the safety and security of our local communities. We owe it to these men and women to provide them with better training and equipment so they can do their jobs more effectively and safely.” ― Carl Levin
20. “More often than not, a hero’s most epic battle is the one you never see; it’s the battle that goes on within him or herself.” — Kevin Smith
21. “In the context of September 11, there were so many that lost their lives that – how do you single out one person? There were so many acts of heroism that day from so many people, whether it be firemen and police officers in New York and our agents also.” — Robert Mueller
22. “The hero is commonly the simplest and obscurest of men.” — Henry David Thoreau
23. “It’s an interesting thing to play the heroes of our society, like cops and firefighters. They’re the basic heroes that, as little boys and little girls, you look up to as the first heroes of your small, specific community.” — Omari Hardwick
24. “Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department they face that fact. When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work. They were not thinking of getting killed when they went where death lurked. They went there to put the fire out, and got killed. Firefighters do not regard themselves as heroes because they do what the business requires.” — Edward F Crocker
25. “The hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen.” — Andrew Bernstein
See also: 200 Empowering Hero Quotes To Ignite Your Brave Heart
Firefighter Quotes About Bravery
1. “When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work.” — Edward Croker
2. “Firefighters go where they’re needed, sometimes ignoring the dangers even when no one is inside a burning building to be saved.” — Bill Dedman
3. “Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” — General George Patton
4. “One thing that’s great about firefighters: If they don’t have the equipment they desperately need, they don’t have the help, they don’t care. They’ll do it on their own.” — Denis Leary
5. “True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job anyhow. That’s what courage is.” — General Norman Schwarzkopf
6. “Delaware’s firefighters put their lives in jeopardy every day in an effort to keep families safe.” ― Thomas Carper
7. “Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brace by doing brave acts.” — Aristotle
8. “They were involved in a firefight and felt they were surrounded. Whether they escaped from that and were fleeing and went in the wrong direction, we don’t know.” ― Hugh Shelton
9. “In the midst of the heartbreak and wreckage of 9-11, the world also witnessed what is America’s greatest strength. Firefighters, nurses, police officers, first responders and local residents worked around the clock to rescue and care for those injured.” — Dan Coats
See also: 150 Proud To Be A Nurse Quotes That Are Sure To Impress
10. “Bravery is being the only one who knows you’re afraid.” — Franklin P. Jones
11. “Military firefighters put their lives on the line each day – not just to defend our country, but also to selflessly defend their fellow servicemembers.” — Abigail Spanberger
12. “The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.” — Thucydides
13. “You have to do something in your life that is honorable and not cowardly if you are to live in peace with yourself, and for the firefighter it is fire.” — Larry Brown
14. “There was really only one person who – and I remember to this day – he was a fireman, and he said, “You’ll never know what you’ll do when you’re in a fire.” Everyone else was like: “I don’t care; I would have saved my children; I could have done it. Even if I was asleep I would have woken up and saved my children.” But the fireman said, “You never know what’s going to happen unless you’re in there.”” — Elizabeth Gilbert
15. “Courage isn’t that you can see what lies ahead; courage means you will advance not knowing but doing at all costs.” — Byron Pulsifer
16. “Art and the triumph of the human spirit – the two combined thrill me. It’s the “Braveheart” moment, the stuff Joseph Campbell talks about, “the heroes journey,” a beautiful documentary on a poignant topic, the fireman saving a kitten from a burning building. It’s the combo of heroism and kindness against the odds or even good reason. It implies immortality because it is the domain of the soul. That evidence of the spirit of life is what makes me get out of bed in the morning.” — Kristin Bauer van Straten
17. “When fire is cried and danger is neigh,
‘God and the firemen’ are the people’s cry;
But when ’tis out and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the firemen slighted.” — Author unknown, ‘From The Fireman’s Journal’
18. “The closest fires were near enough for us to hear the crackling flames and the yells of firemen. Little fires grew into big ones even as we watched. Big ones died down under the firemen’s valor only to break out again later.” — Ernie Pyle
19. “What firefighters and people in our military and cops do is separate from what the rest of us do; basically these people say, ‘I’m going to protect all these strangers.’” — Denis Colin Leary
20. “Brave people are the firemen who run into the burning building. That’s brave.” — Elizabeth Edwards
Motivational Firefighter Quotes
1. “All men were created equal, then a few become firemen.” — Unknown
2. “Anytime I get to help the firefighters, I will. I’m really lucky to be in a position to help.” ― Adam Ferrara
3. “The innovative leader has to be an arsonist and a firefighter.” ― Paul Sloane
4. “Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, & how to be free from it, that’s the point. Necessity of action takes away the fear of the act, and makes bold resolution the favorite of fortune.” — Francis Quarles
See also: 40 Inspiring Faith Over Fear Quotes To Make You Fearless
5. “Firemen never know what they will encounter on each call but proceed with the same level of commitment and service.” — Byron Pulsifer
6. “It would be great if firefighters across the country had the guarantee that they would be making enough money to support their family right from the get-go, but that’s not the case.” — Denis Leary
8. “Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.” — Jack Nicklaus
9. “Athletes and musicians make astronomical amounts of money. People get paid $100 million to throw a baseball! Shouldn’t we all take less and pass some of that money onto others? Think about firefighters, teachers and policemen. We should celebrate people that are intellectually smart and trying to make this world a better place.” — Kid Rock
10. “I became a firefighter because I wanted to save people. But I should have been more specific. I should have named names.” ― Jodi Picoult
11. “I’ve had tons of odd jobs, but I think that I would probably be a fireman because you get to see the results of your job. You get there and there is a house on fire. You leave and there’s not a fire anymore.” — Luke Perry
12. “If Prometheus was worthy of the wrath of heaven for kindling the first fire upon earth, how ought all the gods honor the men who make it their professional business to put it out?” — John Godfrey Saxe
13. “There are firefighters in my family, plus my aunt is now an EMT, and I want to do it, I want to help save lives.” — Angelina Pivarnick
14. “I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a fireman. The position may, in the eyes of some, appear to be a lowly one; but we who know the work which the fireman has to do believe that his is a noble calling. Our proudest moment is to save lives. Under the impulse of such thoughts, the nobility of the occupation thrills us and stimulates us to deeds of daring, even of supreme sacrifice.” — Edward Crocker
15. “Man is the only creature that dares to light a fire and live with it. The reason? Because he alone has learned to put it out.” — H.J. Vandyke
16. “If your goal is to produce firefighters and rescue workers, you have to produce people willing to enter burning buildings.” ― Brian D. McLaren
17. “As the member of a firefighter family myself, supporting the widowed families of rescue workers is an important, personal cause of mine.” — Mark Sanchez
18. “The special ops guys and the firefighters around the world have this great phrase. They say, ‘Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,’ and that is true. Everything I’ve accomplished in my life has been because of that attitude.” — Jeff Bezos
19. “To me, there’s only 5 real jobs in America: Police Officers, Teachers, Firefighters, Doctors, and the Military Service.” — Charles Barkely
20. “I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.” — Kurt Vonnegut
The End
As kids, our superheroes were those in cartoons and movies. These firefighter quotes show that true heroes are ordinary people and they are among us!
