The only way we really create change is to enter any situation with the humility to listen and to recognize the world as it is, and then the audacity to dream what it could be.

I have seen that traditional approaches to charity and aid don't solve problems of poverty. In fact, too often they create dependence.

Why do some people stop growing at age 30, just going from work to the couch and television, when others stay vibrant, curious, almost childlike into their nineties?

As a young woman, I dreamed of changing the world. In my twenties, I went to Africa to try and save the continent, only to learn that Africans neither wanted nor needed saving. Indeed, when I was there, I saw some of the worst that good intentions, traditional charity, and aid can produce.

How you see where you are always depends on where you've been.

Girls and women are most victimised in societies where boys and men are disempowered.

People need to believe that they can participate fully in the decisions that affect their lives and have a stake in the societies in which they live