These quotes from birthday girl Malala Yousafzai will inspire a #TransformationTuesday
The youngest Nobel Prize laureate turns 19 today.
In 2012, Malala Yousafzai became a name known around the world after being shot in the head by a member of the Taliban sitting on a school bus. The teenager miraculously survived and continuously makes efforts to "ensure every girl has access to 12 years of free, safe, quality primary and secondary education," as detailed by the mission of the Malala Fund that she co-founded.
Today we celebrate this young woman's limitless courage, inconceivable ability to forgive, and her insuppressible desire to make the world a better place with some of her most inspirational quotes.
On forgiveness:
"What I went through in my life was a horrible incident, but here the love of people really strengthened me. And it continues to strengthen me. That's why I am able to continue my campaign for education."
To the UK's Channel 4 in Dec. 2015
On education:
"There have been great moments in my life, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the speech at the U.N.," she said. "But in terms of achievements, getting my (General Certificate of Secondary Education) results and listening to my teachers saying 'A's and A stars' — it was the most beautiful and the happiest moment."
To USA TODAY's Andrea Mandell, published Sept, 2015
"I have this love for education," says Malala, 18, now in high school in the U.K. and running the Malala Fund, which advocates for global access to education for girls. "I want to see every child getting quality education, but I (also) want to see myself being involved with this — which I believe is the most powerful weapon in my life. Which is what I am fighting (for)."
To USA TODAY's Andrea Mandell, published Sept. 28, 2015
"Let us become the first generation that decides to be the last that sees empty classrooms, lost childhoods and wasted potentials."
Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Dec. 2014
On feminism:
“I hesitated in saying am I feminist or not," Yousafzai said to UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson. "After hearing your speech, when you said, ‘If not now, when? If not me, who?’ I decided there’s no way, and there’s nothing wrong with calling yourself a feminist. I am a feminist and you’re truly feminist, because feminism is another word for equality.”
During a Q&A session ahead of the premiere of her documentary at the Into Film Festival in Nov. 2015
On finding courage:
(In response to Ellen DeGeneres asking how she had no anger toward the man that shot her.)
"I think they made a big mistake, because I was fighting for the right for education right from the beginning when the Taliban stopped girls from going to school. But I had this little bit of fear that what would happen to me, how would I feel if someone attacks me. But after that incident, when I was attacked, that fear just went away. And as I said in my speech at the United Nations that my weakness, my fear, and my hopelessness died on that day. And I became stronger than before. And now I strongly believe that nothing can stop me in this mission and this campaign of education to say that girls deserve the right to go to school. And it's the love of people as well that has encouraged me and helped me."
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Sept. 2015
On promoting peace:
(Once she found out that the Taliban had threatened her.)
"I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me, but then I said, if he comes 'What would you do Malala?' Then I would reply (to) myself 'Malala just take a shoe and hit him,' but then I said 'if you hit a Talib with your shoe then there would be no difference between you and the Talib... You must fight others but through peace and through dialog and through education'."
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Oct. 2013
On the true meaning of beauty:
“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.'”
From her book: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, published Oct. 2013.