People across the world have made some profound statements in 2009–everyone from a former first lady to a former hooker. It goes to show that everybody has something profound to say at one time or another.

1. ‘There are kids like Precious everywhere. Each day we walk by them: young boys and girls whose home lives are dark secrets.’ – Former First Lady Barbara Bush after screening the Precious movie in her hometown of Houston.
   

   50 Cent on Stage

2. ‘Rappers are like fighters—they go in the gym for the first time and they might not be prepared. And they’ll come at me prematurely and I’ll spank them. I’ll win, without it even going 12 rounds… And they never quite know when to quit, and they stick around like fighters until they’re not as good as they were.’ – 50 Cent on other rappers
3. ‘Here you have all these girls accepting gifts, money, trips from Tiger in exchange for sex…And I was the hooker?’ – Ashley Dupre’ (Eliot Spitzer Call Girl commenting on Tiger Woods’s alleged jump-offs)
4. ‘We continue to project an irrational desire for the physically perfect to be the spiritually strong.’ – Journalist, Julia Baird on the outrage on the Tiger Woods scandal
5. ‘There’s always consequences behind certain things and repercussions behind them, too. And then you have to wake up every day and face the world, whether they perceive you in the right perspective, it’s a totally different outlook on you. You have to be strong, believe in yourself, be optimistic. That’s what I’ve been able to do. That’s what I display.’ – Michael Vick, Eagles Quarterback on his comeback story
6. ‘There is no woman today who can play in the NBA. But you have to admit that women players have improved a great deal over the last decade, and who’s to say there won’t be a freakish athlete who comes along over the years ahead?’ – NBA Commissioner David Stern defending his statement that he believes that women will someday play in the NBA
7. ‘It wasn’t until I saw this woman named Oprah Winfrey doing this show called ‘People Are Talking’ [a local talk show Winfrey co-hosted while she was at Baltimore's WJZ-TV] that I said ‘That is what I want to do right there.’ Actress, Mo’Nique speaks on her start
   
8. ‘There’s no such thing as a secret snitch…’ – T.I. speaking on former protege being DEA informant
   
9. ‘It just didn’t ring true to me. It felt like a dream… It’s still so difficult for me to believe. It’s hard. You have to move on with your life. You have to accept what is and I understand that.” – Janet Jackson on brother Michael’s death