JANUARY

• “I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol.”

• Barack Obama, on marijuana use

• “In 10 minutes, you could be dead without the proper clothes.”

Greg Ballard, Indianapolis mayor, warning about the polar vortex

FEBRUARY

• “People looked and saw that there is nothing to fear.”

Vladimir Putin, suggesting the violence-free Sochi Olympics should improve perceptions of Russia

MARCH

• “Good night, Malaysian three-seven-zero.”

The last recorded transmission to the cockpit of Flight 370, which remains missing

• “We will hold ourselves fully accountable.”

Mary Barra, General Motors CEO, apologizing for a fatal ignition-switch defect

APRIL

• “Those are some huge shoes to fill. And some really big pants.”

Stephen Colbert, on taking over the Late Show from David Letterman

MAY

• “North Korea isn’t a real country, is it?”

Kim Min-Seok, South Korean official, blasting Pyongyang for sexist comments about South Korean President Park Geun-hye

• “I don’t know why you girls aren’t attracted to me. But I will punish you all for it.”

Elliot Rodger, 22, before killing seven people–including himself–in Isla Vista, Calif.

JUNE

• “I don’t want revenge … I want peace.”

Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian President, vowing to end fighting with pro-Russian separatists

JULY

• “Music should not be free.”

Taylor Swift, months before pulling her catalog from Spotify

• “I consider those girls as my sisters … and I’m going to speak up for them until they are released.”

Malala Yousafzai, on the 200-plus Nigerian girls kidnapped by the militant group Boko Haram

• “My phone is exploding with love!”

Laverne Cox, after becoming the first transgender actress to receive an Emmy nomination

‘There are dead people lying in the streets.’

Ingrid Gercama, Dutch relief worker, speaking in August about Liberia’s Ebola outbreak

AUGUST

• “He was the greatest friend you could ever imagine.”

Billy Crystal, on Robin Williams

• “Throwing 70 miles an hour. That’s throwing like a girl.”

Mo’ne Davis, 13, after she pitched a shutout in the Little League World Series

• “If they refuse to hear us, we will make them feel us.”

Sybrina Fulton, mother of Travyon Martin, after Michael Brown, 18, was fatally shot by a police officer

SEPTEMBER

• “They are not Muslims. They are murderers.”

David Cameron, British Prime Minister, on the extremist group ISIS

• “I let myself down, I let everyone else down, and for that I’m sorry.”

Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, on the league’s mishandling of domestic-abuse cases

• “Students should stand on the front line in every century.”

Joshua Wong, 17-year-old leader of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests

• “Hello, Iowa. I’m baaaack.”

Hillary Clinton, at a Democratic fundraiser

OCTOBER

• “Sometimes they act by inaction.”

Ted Olson, gay-rights advocate and attorney, after the Supreme Court opted to keep gay marriage a state issue

• “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime.”

Jennifer Lawrence, after hackers leaked stolen nude photos of her and other celebrities

• “I want to be a much better President than I have been until now.”

Dilma Rousseff, after winning re-election in Brazil

NOVEMBER

• “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love.”

Brittany Maynard, before ending her life to avoid a painful death from brain cancer

• “We will make it our job to prove the skeptics wrong.”

Mitch Mcconnell and John Boehner, promising change after GOP midterm victories

• “No, no, we don’t answer that.”

Bill Cosby, declining to address mounting allegations of sexual assault

• “You can come out of the shadows.”

Barack Obama, to the millions of unauthorized workers who will benefit from immigration reform

DECEMBER

• “This is a fundamental issue for every American who cares about justice.”

Bill De Blasio, New York City mayor, discussing police reforms in response to the Eric Garner case

SOURCES: AP; GUARDIAN; TIME; WALL STREET JOURNAL

This appears in the December 22, 2014 issue of TIME.

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Write to Justin Worland at justin.worland@time.com.