The youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai, secured a place at Oxford University to study philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE). She would soon join the long list of world leaders who studied at Oxford including British Prime Ministers Clement Attlee and Tony Blair, Dame Josephine Barnes, former Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott, first female President of the British Medical Association, former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi and also the inventor of the World Wide Web Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
The education activist from Pakistan was 15 when she was shot by Taliban for campaigning for girls' education. However, that did not stop Yousafzai and now she will be juggling her studies along with running an international charity known as the Malala Fund that advocates for all girls to have access to education for 12 years.
We bring to you some inspiring and powerful quotes by Malala Yousafzai that will change the way you think :
- We human beings don't realise 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 colours 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.
- If one man can destroy everything, why can't one girl change it?
- [Without Education] I would have two or three children by now. I'm fortunate that I'm 18 and I'm still not married. When you don't get an education, your life is very much controlled by others. I would not prefer that life.
- We should believe in ourselves. If we want the future to be better, we need to start working on it right now. Children are in the millions in this world. If millions of children come together, they could build up this strong army, and then our leaders would have to listen to us.
- When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.
- Often, we think we are too young, or our ideas may not work, and we need to grow up to bring change. I just say no...Whatever you want to do now, you can do it now.
- I speak – not for myself, but for all girls and boys. I raise up my voice – not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.
- 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.
- 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"
- We were scared, but our fear was not as strong as our courage.
