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

— Malala Yousafzai, Address to the United Nations Youth Assembly (12 July 2013)

About Malala Yousafzai

Born 1997

Pakistani education activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2014), who campaigns for every girl's right to schooling.

“One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.”

“Education is one of the blessings of life — and one of its necessities.”

“Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard?”

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.”

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.”

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.”

“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.”

“Courage is of the heart by derivation, and great it is. But fear is of the soul.”

“Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.”