The following are quotes from Time Magazine of people regarding their thoughts on 9/11/2001.
George W. Bush – I knew we needed to use all the resources of our government to defend the American people.
Rudolph Giuliani – As a society, I think we became more realistic and stronger.
Brian Clark, Survivor, World Trade Center – I went down the other hallway and went to stairway A. We learned that there are no stories of anybody surviving from anything other than stairway A.
Richard Fern, Survivor, World Trade Center – I always believed it was just the hand of God had me by the shoulder – he was able to find me that door in the dark.
Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, WTC – Some people would say “Weren’t you lucky that you weren’t there?” Maybe it was the luck of my son’s school, that it was the first day of school.
Donald Rumsfeld, former U. S. Secretary of Defense – A few minutes later, the Pentagon was hit. I could see pieces of metal lying all over the grass and people that were wounded, people being brought out of the building who were dead and injured.
Joseph Pfeifer, Chief of Counterterrorism, FDNY – Many of the firefighters who went up there, it was the last time we saw them. They went up and climbed the narrow stairs to help those who were in their greatest moment of need.
James Nachtwey, Photographer – We were all very small in the face of what happened. All any of us could do was what we knew how to do, and keep doing it and not give in to despair and defeat.
Jim Riches, Retired Deputy Chief, FDNY – It sounds pretty strange: I’m one of the lucky ones. I found my son’s body.
Source: Time Magazine’s Issue of September 19, 2011