Malala Yousafzai Quotes

1. For my brothers it was easy to think about the future. They can be anything they want. But for me it was hard and for that reason I wanted to become educated and empower myself with knowledge.


2. My father always says that heroism is in the Pashtun DNA.

3. I reassured my mother that it didn't matter to me if my face was not symmetrical. Me, who had always cared about my appearance, how my hair looked! But when you see death, things change. "It doesn't matter if I can't smile or blink properly," I told her. "I'm still me, Malala. The important thing is God has given me my life".

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

5. I don't know why people have divided the whole world into two groups, west and east. Education is neither eastern nor western. Education is education and it's the right of every human being.

6. Education is our right, I said. Just as it is our right to sing. Islam has given us this right and says that every girl and boy should go to school. The Quran says we should seek knowledge, study hard and learn the mysteries of our world.

7. Though we loved school, we hadn't realized how important education was until the Taliban tried to stop us. Going to school, reading and doing our homework wasn't just a way of passing time, it was our future.

8. I believe it's a woman's right to decide what she wants to wear and if a woman can go to the beach and wear nothing, then why can't she also wear everything?




9. Our news bulletins were full of killings and death, so it was natural for Atal to think of coffins and graves. Instead of hide-and-seek and cops and robbers, children were now playing army vs. Taliban.

10. I raise up my voice-not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard…we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.


11. I am proud to be a girl. We girls can change the world!

12. I speak not for myself but for those without voice… those who have fought for their rights... their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated.

13. Everyday is our day and we are going to speak for ourselves and for our rights.



14. Life isn't just about taking in oxygen and giving out carbon dioxide.

15. I believe in the power of the voice of women.

16. Outside his office my father had a framed copy of a letter written by Abraham Lincoln to his son's teacher, translated into Pashto. It is a very beautiful letter, full of good advice. "Teach him, if you can, the wonder of books…But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and the flowers on a green hillside," it says. "Teach him it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat".

17. If you educate a child, there will be no poverty.





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

19. People say Malala's voice is being sold to the world. But I see it as Malala's voice reaching the world and resonating globally. You should think about what is behind Malala's voice. What is she saying? I am only talking about education, women's rights, and peace.

20. One year ago I left my home for school and never returned.

21. "At night our fear is strong, Jani," he told me, "but in the morning, in the light, we find our courage again."

22. If we work together, it is easy for us to achieve our goal. Now millions of girls are raising their voices for education.



23. It seemed to me that everyone knows they will die one day. My feeling was nobody can stop death; it doesn't matter if it comes from a Talib or cancer. So I should do whatever I want to do.

24. Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow.



25. In many parts of the world, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan, terrorism, war and conflict stop children to go to their schools. We are really tired of these wars. Women and children are suffering.

26. I don't cover my face because I want to show my identity.

27. Is Islam such a weak religion that it cannot tolerate a book written against it? Not my Islam!

28. I don't want awards, I want my daughter. I wouldn't exchange a single eyelash of my daughter for the whole world.




29. The extremists are afraid of books and pens, the power of education frightens them. they are afraid of women.

30. All I want is an education, and I am afraid of no one.


31. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed - that has nothing to do with the business of the state.

32. His sisters - my aunts - did not go to school at all, just like millions of girls in my country. Education had been a great gift for him. He believed that lack of education was the root of all of Pakistan's problems. Ignorance allowed politicians to fool people and bad administrators to be re-elected. He believed schooling should be available for all, rich and poor, boys and girls. The school that my father dreamed of would have desks and a library, computers, bright posters on the walls and, most important, washrooms.

33. I don't want revenge on the Taliban, I want education for sons and daughters of the Taliban.

34. I want poverty to end in tomorrow's Pakistan. I want every girl in Pakistan to go to school.

35. If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.

36. If people were silent, nothing would change.

37. I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there was a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me, I would not shoot him.

38. Dear brothers and sisters, do remember one thing: Malala Day is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights.

39. I was a girl in a land where rifles are fired in celebration of a son, while daughters are hidden away behind a curtain, their role in life simply to prepare food and give birth to children.

40. I told myself, Malala, you have already faced death. This is your second life.

41. Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.

42. And also I didn't want my future to be just sitting in a room and be imprisoned in my four walls and just cooking and giving birth to children. I didn't want to see my life in that way.

43. Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow's reality.






44. When someone takes away your pens you realize quite how important education is.

45. I am very proud to be a Pashtun, but sometimes I think our code of conduct has a lot to answer for, particularly where the treatment of women is concerned.

46. 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.

47. This is what my soul is telling me: be peaceful and love everyone.






48. 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.

49. We felt like the Taliban saw us as like little dolls to control, telling us what to do and how to dress. I thought if God wanted us to be like that He would not have made us all different.

50. When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.


51. Pakistanis can't trust. They've seen in history that people, particularly politicians, are corrupt. And they're misguided by people in the name of Islam. They're told: "Malala is not a Muslim, she's not in purdah, she's working for America."

52. First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak out because I was not a Catholic. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

53. When someone tells me about Malala, the girl who was shot by the Taliban - that's my definition for her - I don't think she's me. Now I don't even feel as if I was shot. Even my life in Swat feels like a part of history or a movie I watched. Things change. God has given us a brain and a heart which tell us how to live.

54. We human beings don't realize how great God is. He has given us an extraordinary brain and a sensitive loving heart. He has blessed us with two lips to talk and express our feelings, two eyes which see a world of colors and beauty, two feet which walk on the road of life, two hands to work for us, and two ears to hear the words of love. As I found with my ear, no one knows how much power they have in their each and every organ until they lose one.

55. With guns you can kill terrorists, with education you can kill terrorism.





56. We like to put sacred texts in flowing waters, so I rolled it up, tied it to a piece of wood, placed a dandelion on top, and floated it in the stream which flows into the Swat River. Surely God would find it there.

57. If you go anywhere, even paradise, you will miss your home.

58. If people volunteered in the same way to construct schools or roads or even clear the river of plastic wrappers, by God, Pakistan would become a paradise within a year.

59. Now, every morning when I open my eyes, I long to see my old room full of my things, my clothes all over the floor and my school prizes on the shelves.

60. We were scared, but our fear was not as strong as our courage.




61. My mother always told me: "Hide your face-people are looking at you". I would reply:"It does not matter;I am also looking at them.

62. All this happened and nobody did a thing. It was as though everyone was in a trance.



63. Some people say I will never return home.

64. In Pakistan when women say they want independence, people think this means we don't want to obey our fathers, brothers or husbands. But it does not mean that. It means we want to make decisions for ourselves. We want to be free to go to school or to go to work. Nowhere is it written in the Quran that a woman should be dependent on a man. The word has not come down from the heavens to tell us that every woman should listen to a man.

65. The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions, but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born.

66. I think life is always dangerous. Some people get afraid of it. Some people don't go forward. But some people, if they want to achieve their goal, they have to go. They have to move… We have seen the barbaric situation of the 21st century in Swat. So why should I be afraid now?

67. If one man can destroy everything, why can't one girl change it?

68. I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save mankind?

69. I will get my education - if it is in home, school, or anyplace.

70. The boys learn the Quran by heart, rocking back and forth as they recite. They learn that there is no such thing as science or literature, that dinosaurs never existed and man never went to the moon.

71. 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.

72. In some parts of the world, students are going to school every day. It's their normal life. But in other part of the world, we are starving for education…it's like a precious gift. It's like a diamond.

73. Some people only ask others to do something. I believe that, why should I wait for someone else? Why don't I take a step and move forward.


74. I wasn't scared, but I had started making sure the gate was locked at night and asking God what happens when you die.

75. I love physics because it is about truth, a world determined by principles and laws - no messing around or twisting things like in politics, particularly those in my country.

76. The important thing to note is that it is not important whether Malala was shot or not - Malala is not asking for personal favors or support. She is asking for support with girls' education and women's rights. So don't support Malala, support her campaign for girls' education and women's rights.



77. 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.

78. The Taliban could take our pens and books, but they couldn't stop our minds from thinking.

79. After the PM presented me with the award and cheque, I presented him with a long list of demands.

80. On my way from school to home I heard a man saying "I will kill you." I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me. But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone. 



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