8 Reasons Why Malala Yousafzai Is An Inspiration To Us All

As early as 2008, Malala had already begun her fight for education rights. According to the Toronto Star, her father brought her to Peshawar to speak to a local press club in September of that year. “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” she said to the group gathered, adding that she hid her textbooks under her clothes when she walked to school.

Malala was just 11 at the time.

Since the failed assassination attempt, terrorists have said that they will “attack” her again if they get the chance; but Malala, who — at the age of 11 also began writing a blog for the BBC, describing her life under Taliban rule — has refused to be intimidated.

“If I speak truly, I’m a little bit scared of ghosts,” she famously told NDTV in 2013. “But I’m not afraid [of the Taliban]. No, not at all.”

Malala famously left "The Daily Show"’s Jon Stewart speechless when she told him what she would tell a member of the Taliban if she ever met one face to face.

She said: “I would tell him how important education is and that I would even want education for your children as well. That’s what I want to tell you. Now do what you want.”

Last year, on July 12, when the United Nations declared the teenager’s birthday “Malala Day,” the youngster stood up to address the dignitaries gathered and told them about how she represents the estimated 57 million children around the globe who are not currently going to school.

“'Malala Day' is not my day,” she said in a speech delivered at the U.N. in New York. “Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights.”

“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world,” she said later. “Education is the only solution. Education first.”