The Only Plane In The Sky: An Oral History Of 9/11 Quotes
"Good days. And bad days. Up days. Down days. Sad days. Happy days. But never a boring day on this job. You do what God has called you to do. You show up. You put one foot in front of another. You get on the rig and you go out and you do the job. Which is a mystery. And a surprise." - Father Mychal Judge, chaplain, FDNY
"I’d been off most of the summer. A friend called up to ask how it was to be back. I said, 'I’m doing fine, but there’s no news. It’s hard to get cranked back up.'" - Tom Brokaw, anchor, NBC News
"This was an administration that was interested in Great Power politics. A great deal of effort was focused on U.S.-Russian arms control and the strategic relationship questions about how to manage a rising China." - Matthew Waxman, staff member, National Security Council, White House
"The cockpit’s not answering. Somebody’s stabbed in business class, and, um, I think there is Mace—that we can’t breathe. I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked." - Betty Ong, flight attendant, American Airlines Flight 11
"It was the perfect fall day, a little touch of autumn in the air. It was one of those back-to-school September days, full of possibilities, and, in its own way, a new beginning." - Katie Couric, anchor, The Today Show
"Nobody move please. We are going back to the airport. Don’t try to make any stupid moves." - Mohamed Atta, hijacker, aboard American Airlines Flight 11
"The cockpit is not answering their phone and there’s somebody stabbed in business class and there’s—we can’t breathe in business class. Somebody’s got Mace or something." - Betty Ong, flight attendant, American Airlines Flight 11
"The sky was extraordinarily blue." - Hillary Howard, weather anchor, WUSA-TV, Washington, D.C.
"Those were probably the last carefree moments he had in his term." - B. Alexander "Sandy" Kress, senior education adviser, White House, about President George W. Bush
"I have to take care of the kids in the school." - Ada Dolch, principal, High School for Leadership and Public Service (HSLPS), New York City
"I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked. If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know I absolutely love you." - Brian Sweeney, passenger, United Flight 175
"It’s getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and Mace. They said they have a bomb." - Peter Hanson, passenger, United Flight 175
"Just get me somebody who has the authority to get military in the air, now." - Peter Mulligan, FAA New York Center
"The whole building just, ah, came apart. . . . Oh my god." - New York TRACON
"I wanted to scramble our Langley aircraft right then—F-16s out of North Dakota were on alert at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia." - Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold, commander of the 1st Air Force, NORAD
"We are under attack. We figured if there’s two, there might be more." - Lt. Col. Kevin Nasypany, mission crew commander, NEADS
"When United 175 struck the building, I told them to ground-stop every plane in the country, regardless. No one could take off." - Ben Sliney, national operations manager, FAA Command Center
"We heard something about a plane hitting the World Trade Center." - Chuck Savall, pilot, Midwest Express Flight 73
"Hey, Beverly, this is Sean, in case you get this message. There has been an explosion in World Trade One, that’s the other building." - Sean Rooney, vice president, Aon Corporation
"I was in the back room, where you could go between segments to work on what’s next, take a break, or drink a cup of coffee." - Katie Couric, anchor, The Today Show
"I must have gotten up just after the first plane hit, because the first thing I did was turn on the TV and saw the World Trade Center." - Lyzbeth Glick
"A news reporter came on saying that the Pentagon had been hit, and I started wailing. I mean, really wailing, making a noise that I did not know I could make, thinking it was Tom’s plane that had hit the Pentagon." - Deena Burnett
"Honey, are you there? Jack, pick up sweetie. Okay, well I just wanted to tell you I love you. We’re having a little problem on the plane. I’m fine. I just want you to know that I love you more than anything. Please tell my family I love them, too." - Lauren Grandcolas
"Hi baby. Baby—you have to listen to me carefully. I’m on a plane that’s been hijacked. I’m on a plane, I’m calling from the plane. I want to tell you that I love you." - CeeCee Lyles
"I asked the caller his name, and he told me, 'Todd Beamer, from Cranbury, New Jersey.'" - Lisa Jefferson
"You’re gonna have to land." We told them, "You’re not leaving our airspace—you gonna have to pick an airport, get a hold of your company, tell us where you’re gonna go, and tell us where you’re gonna land." - Terry Biggio
"Sean, it’s me. I just wanted to let you know I love you and I’m stuck in this building in New York." - Melissa Harrington Hughes
"You’re almost out, you’ve almost made it out." - Bill Spade
"It’s fantastic how I can sometimes begin a day and go through a day, but not realize that everything that happens—every single thing that happens—is somehow within the divine plan." - Mychal Judge, chaplain, FDNY
"I was trying to comfort her. I didn’t cry for some reason." - Genelle Guzman, office assistant, Port Authority
"It was as if he took the lead—all those angels, right through heaven’s gates. That’s what it seemed like to us." - Craig Monahan, firefighter, Ladder 5, FDNY
"The president and I knew each other very well—we’d spent a lot of hours at his ranch—and tongue-in-cheek several times that day, I said, 'Remember what your mother said.'" - Dave Wilkinson, assistant agent in charge, U.S. Secret Service
"The real heroes are the passengers on Flight 93 who were willing to sacrifice themselves." - Lt. Heather "Lucky" Penney, F-16 pilot, D.C. Air National Guard
"I don’t think you want to make that decision right now." - Andy Card, chief of staff, White House
"It was a big black hole and it was smoking." - Yates Gladwell, pilot, Falcon 20 corporate jet, airborne over Pennsylvania
"It was an overwhelming experience. The only way I knew it was a plane was the size—it was a big crater." - Jon Meyer, reporter, WNEP-TV
"I knew that somehow this was related to what was going on." - Rick King, assistant chief, Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company
"That day was the day that defined our generation." - Lt. Michael Day, U.S. Coast Guard
"Few Americans knew the name Osama bin Laden. Midday on 9/11, Washington NBC-4 TV anchors brought into their studio a man who knew the background of the attacks."
"Does al-Qaeda have to hit the Pentagon to get your attention?"
"People on the ground get to see the future before everyone."
"Our battle with the Americans is larger than our battle with the Russians."
"We knew it was terrorism, but we were in denial."
"The night of September 10th, he had said to me, 'We’re due, and we’re due for something big.'"
"I stopped a firefighter and asked, 'What can we do?'"
"You’re not supposed to be happy—you realize the gravity of the situation, you realize that this is really bad. But there’s a survivor’s Hey, I walked away from it euphoria that hits you." - Robert Hunor
"My heart sank. His voice is ingrained on me forever." - Jennifer Meyers
"You don’t know how that made me feel." - Maj. James Phillips
"They were used to seeing me in slacks and penny loafers, never in gear covered in gray matter." - Dan Potter
"This is the country that we chose to come to. Nobody will destroy our country." - Ileana Mayorga
"It was like a movie set. It’s like, 'No! This is Lower Manhattan—this doesn’t happen in Lower Manhattan. It happens in the Middle East somewhere.'" - Scott Strauss
"It’s amazing how technology has changed." - Karl Rove
"I still fit in my pilot uniform from World War II. I can still see. I can still hear. I have kept up with my training as a pilot. Tell whoever you can tell that I’m ready to report for duty." - 80-year-old man
"We’re in a survival mode." - Lt. Michael Nesbitt
"I’m coming for you, brother. I’m coming for you." - Capt. Jay Jonas
"This is going to take a real long time. It’s really bad out here." - Bill Blanche
"Tell my wife and kids I love them." - Richard Prunty
"I don’t know. I’m making this up as I go along." - Capt. Jay Jonas
"There were a lot of good men in that building." - Chief Ray Downey
"Holy shit, guys! We got a survivor!" - Fireman Mike Morabito
"This baby’s got to have a father! This baby’s got to have a father!" - Louise Buzzelli
"Guys, there used to be 106 floors over our heads and now I can see sunshine." - Capt. Jay Jonas
"We’ve lived to this point. Let’s be careful here before we do anything." - Capt. Jay Jonas
"We got to take care of you." - Rescue team to Capt. Jay Jonas
"I need a phone. My wife is home. She’s seven-and-a-half-months pregnant." - Pasquale Buzzelli
"I don’t know how, but I’m alive. I wanted to tell you." - Pasquale Buzzelli
"I’m in an ambulance right now." - Pasquale Buzzelli
"They were waiting for the injured, and they never came." - Joe Esposito
"I remember such a surreal feeling every time a plane would fly over." - Sheryl Meyer
"Go home. It’s not safe here." - Daycare director to Jenna Greene
"You’re not going to school today. There’s going to be a war." - Babysitter to Kelly Yeo
"We can’t be friends anymore, Hiba. My mom said until this is over, we can’t be friends anymore." - Friend to Hiba Elaasar
"Who did this?" "Al-Qaeda." - Ari Fleischer and President
"The United States has been attacked." - Crewman, USS Norfolk
"The mightiest building in the world is on fire. This is the face of war in the 21st century." - President
"I don’t know who you are, but I’m an ex-cop, not a Fed." - John Napolitano
"I want everybody here reporting for work." - Donald Rumsfeld
"God Bless America." - Spontaneous song by members of Congress
"Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack." - President's address
"Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks."
"We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."
"Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened."
"None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world."
"I remember how I didn’t want that day to end, terrible as it was. I didn’t want to go to sleep because as long as I was awake, it was still a day that I shared with Sean."