I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated.

She explained that the bullet had entered through the side of my left eye where there was a scar, traveled eighteen inches down to my left shoulder and stopped there. It could have taken out my eye or gone into my brain. It was a miracle I was alive.

I believe in peace. I believe in mercy.

We liked to be known as the clever girls. When we decorated our hands with henna for holidays and weddings, we drew calculus and chemical formulae instead of flowers and butterflies.

Education is the best weapon through which we can fight poverty, ignorance and terrorism.

Let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons.

Our men think earning money and ordering around others is where power lies. They don't think power is in the hands of the woman who takes care of everyone all day long, and gives birth to their children.