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Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai Quotes

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Famous Malala Yousafzai Quotes

“We Pashtuns love shoes but don't love the cobbler; we love our scarves and blankets but do not respect the weaver. Manual workers made a great contribution to our society but received no recognition, and this is the reason so many of them joined the Taliban—to finally achieve status and power.”

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Book:I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
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“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 not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.’ Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that ‘I even want education for your children as well.’ And I will tell him, ‘That’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.”

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Author:Malala Yousafzai
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“Yet my father remained hopeful and believed there would be a day when there was an end to the destruction. What really depressed him was the looting of the destroyed schools - the furniture, the books, the computers, were all stolen by local people. He cried when he heard this.”

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Book:I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
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“That night, I opened Aristotle's Nicomachean ethics, much of which is dedicated to his thoughts on friendship. Three years prior, when I had read, "The wish to be friends can come about quickly, but friendship cannot", it had made me sad. I didn't like the idea of waiting so long to feel close to someone, as if it was a skill you had to master over many years. I understood it better now. It took effort to see past differences in someone's background, beliefs, or personality. It took courage to be vulnerable. To share the embarassing and scary parts of yourself - the parts you don't even understand - with friends. It took humility to repair your connections, to forgive, and be forgiven. Friendship is the only type of love available to all of us at any point in our lives. It is common, often overlooked, unmarked by major holidays. To me, friends should be embraced with the same magnitude of wonder and care that we feel for lovers and family members.”

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Book:Finding My Way
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“You know, my father was a great encouragement for me because he spoke out for women's rights, he spoke out for girl's education. And at that time I said that why should I wait for someone else, why should I be looking to the government, to the army that they would help us? Why don't I raise my voice, why don't we speak up for our rights?”

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Author:Malala Yousafzai
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“I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there was a gun in my hand and he was standing in front of me, I would not shoot him. This is the compassion I have learned from Mohammed, the prophet of mercy, Jesus Christ and Lord Buddha. This the legacy of change I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. This is the philosophy of nonviolence that I have learned from Gandhi, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa. And this is the forgiveness that I have learned from my father and from my mother. This is what my soul is telling me: be peaceful and love everyone.”

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Author:Malala Yousafzai
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