You may think I'm brave. But in the eyes of many people back in my country I am a coward. They think, this man gave so much freedom to his daughter, he broke all the traditions of our society.

If you want to resolve a dispute or come out from conflict, the very first thing is to speak the truth. If you have a headache and tell the doctor you have a stomachache, how can the doctor help? You must speak the truth. The truth will abolish fear.

On his daughter Malala Yousafzai: When she was very small I used to say to her, 'tell me Malala, how is the school going?' And she'd say 'it is so-so, you should change this and this...' I trusted her wisdom.

Honour your daughters, trust them and most importantly, educate them.

When in many societies, fathers are usually known by their sons, I am one of the few fathers who is known by his daughter, and I'm proud of it.

People ask me, what special is in my mentorship which has made Malala so bold and so courageous and so vocal and poised? I tell them, don't ask me what I did. Ask me what I did not do. I did not clip her wings, and that's all.

When people hear my daughter and when they know about her wisdom and maturity, they think that her father must have been sitting with her and mentoring her. They think he would have spent a lot of time in bringing her up. They think he would have constructed her.