At about an age when most children start full time schooling, hundreds of thousands of their contemporaries start a lifetime of drudgery in factories and fields, working 12-16 hours daily.

I am positive that I would see the end of child labour around the world in my lifetime, as the poorest of the poor have realised that education is a tool that can empower them.

If you keep on buying things made by child slaves in such conditions, you are equally responsible for the perpetration of slavery.

Each time I free a child, I feel it is something closer to God.

I am thankful to the Nobel committee for recognising the plight of millions of children who are suffering in this modern age.

There is a triangular relationship between poverty, child labour and illiteracy who have a cause and consequence relationship. We will have to break this vicious circle.

Elimination of child labour and access to education are like two sides of one coin. One cannot be achieved without the other.

I am really honoured, but if the prize had gone to Mahatma Gandhi before me, I would have been more honoured.

I dream for a world which is free of child labour, a world in which every child goes to school. A world in which every child gets his rights.

I have been very strongly advocating that poverty must not be used as an excuse to continue child labour. It perpetuates poverty. If children are deprived of education, they remain poor.

Denial of childhood and denial of freedom are the biggest sins which humankind has been committing and perpetuating for ages.

Today, in every wave of every ocean, I see our children playing and dancing. Today, in every plant, tree, and mountain, I see our children growing in freedom.

For me, peace is a fundamental human right of every child; it is inevitable and divine.

India may be a land of over a 100 problems, but it is also a place for a billion solutions.

Learning from the experiences of our ancestors, let us together create knowledge for all that benefits all.

Economic growth and human development need to go hand in hand. Human values need to be advocated vigorously.

From my own experience, I want to say that you should follow your heart, and the mind will follow you. Believe in yourself, and you will create miracles.