I am proud to be a girl, and I know that girls can change the world.

I don't want to be thought of as the 'girl who was shot by the Taliban' but the 'girl who fought for education. This is the cause to which I want to devote my life.

I want world leaders to choose books over bullets...We can afford to give every girl 12 years of free education. It is absolutely in our power, and when we do, we will realize a whole new world of possibility.

Once I had asked God for one or two extra inches in height, but instead he made me as tall as the sky, so high that I could not measure myself.

In countries other than Pakistan - I won't necessarily call them 'Western' - people support me. This is because people there respect others. They don't do this because I am a Pashtun or a Punjabi, a Pakistani, or an Iranian, they do it because of one's words and character. This is why I am being respected and supported there.

I believe the gun has no power at all.

We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced