Quotables

“A year.”

Nine-year-old Israel resident EMILY HAND, previously thought killed by Hamas but released from captivity on Nov. 25, in reply to her father Thomas asking her how long she thought she’d been gone, according to CNN. It had been 50 days.

“It took 50 years for my work to win the prize. That’s how long it takes for opinions to change.”

JOHN CLAUSER, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics last year for his experiments with light particles in the 1970s, telling The Washington Post why he disbelieves the mainstream view on climate change.

“A week ago the river was just alive with rats floating around.”

Karumba, Australia, resident YVONNE TUNNEY, describing a rat plague that the Guardian Australia reported her coastal town has endured following Queensland’s unusually wet weather this year.

“He sits on his throne with his sword in one hand and a beer in the other and leaves me in peace.”

Cubatão, Brazil, resident MARIA CLAUDETE SILVA, whose eccentric businessman husband Ivanio Batista da Silva has built himself a castle-like house, complete with throne and turrets, and styles himself as “His Majesty Ivan I of Cubatão,” according to The Wall Street Journal.