Top 43 Quotes & Sayings by Craig Kielburger

Most organizations see young people as problems to be solved. We see young people as problem-solvers.

The nature of education fundamentally has not changed in a century - and I say this as someone whose parents are both teachers.

But while Nelson Mandela's work is sadly done, his dream is unfinished.

My grandfather came to Canada from Romania just before the Second World War, already in debt after buying his boat ticket on borrowed dime.

Any child who dreams to do good in the world has Mandela as his hero. I own a dog-eared copy of 'Long Walk to Freedom' and visited Robben Island, where he was imprisoned, to stand in a cell only as wide as an arm's span.

Distance and difference become irrelevant as our technology connects youth from Vancouver, Toronto, Iqaluit, Attawapiskat, Delhi, Nairobi - anywhere - to learn from and about each other.

We would love to see Canadian federal and provincial governments establish a new business entity class like the CIC or L3C for social enterprises. Our governments should also offer tax incentives to entice more entrepreneurs into the social economy, and encourage foundations and impact investors to put their capital into social enterprises.

My own service started when I was 12, with the small charity I launched with 12 friends. Twenty years later, millions have joined our ranks - educators, business leaders and prominent Canadians.

Success to us is not just a girl overseas going to school - but also leading her village to a better future.

Many say that a man comes along with the moral courage of Nelson Mandela once in a lifetime. He was an extraordinary man who paid a great sacrifice for his beliefs, then led a nation from the prospect of civil war to reconciliation.

We've found that service learning builds life skills, leadership and a sense of global citizenship that makes helping a lifelong habit.

There may never be another Madiba. But instead of waiting for the next Nelson Mandela to emerge, those whom he universally inspired are now looking to themselves and each other to build their own dream together.

I started calling anti-child labor organizations, asking how I could help. They told me a kid couldn't make any difference, so I decided to start a movement for young people to fight child labor, and to prove them wrong.

People in the business world lament economic resources wasted on unsustainable development projects and what they see as activists' naive failure to grasp the importance of building strong economies.

Some say there is no uniquely Canadian identity, that our multicultural fabric is too varied to establish a common thread. I disagree. My grandfather came to a country that celebrates diversity, embraces strife with compassion and respects selfless idealism.

The children of Qunu stood for hours on the side of a brand new stretch of highway as they waited for the hearse carrying Nelson Mandela to come into view.

There's no magic bullet to end poverty in the world. But if you could, the closest thing to it would be basic primary education.

Sometimes it takes a child to raise a village - or to take down an injustice.

When you stand amid the unending vistas of Kenya's Maasai Mara, it's impossible to remain focused inward. Your mind expands to the distant horizons.

When you give a child the opportunity to learn, they always give back.

We want to end poverty and protect our environment. But we think the most efficient way of achieving that is to change the way a generation of young people is educated. That's how you'll shift the world.

When I was 12, I read about Iqbal Masih, a child slave who escaped the carpet factory where he'd been chained to a loom since the age of four. Iqbal led an anti-child labor crusade that made global headlines, including the one that first caught my attention.

Time flies when you're changing the world.

My grandfather didn't come to Canada for his own sake. He didn't leave behind his family to cross the Atlantic and be knocked to the canvas. He came here so that his son, my father, would have a better life.

In the We Connectivity Hub, three global classrooms fitted with Skype technology from Microsoft will bring workshops, leadership training and mentorship to the most remote and unreachable rural communities in Canada - especially Indigenous communities - without having to fly thousands of kilometres to an urban centre.

We've set up groups in schools across North America. They apply and receive a curriculum about different issues facing the world - from environment to health to sustainability. Then, the students take actions from fundraisers to awareness raisers, and some of them even go overseas and volunteer.

While governments are not off the hook, the charity world needs to innovate and find new ways to attract outside investment to boost our social productivity.

We learned that kicking down doors to free children from carpet factories isn't enough to stop child labour - we had to tackle the underlying poverty in which their families lived, through education.

Service learning connects classroom studies to real-world issues, with hands-on activities and problem solving. Youth can study biology and ecology by testing the water in their own community; or learn about statistics, calculating the food supply and usage at the local food bank.

In South Africa, there is only one name that every child knows, every leader invokes, and every grandparent tells their grandchildren about. Madiba.

And in rural communities we've worked alongside, Haitians are doing far more than merely recovering from the earthquake. Many are creating long-term sustainable change.

I met children who want to be social workers, lawyers, doctors, community activists and soldiers so they can help their people rise above still difficult economic circumstances.

Despite the value to Canada, our country lags in competitiveness in the global social economy.

Collectively, we have all it takes to create a just and peaceful world, but we must work together and share our talents. We all need one another to find happiness within ourselves and within the world.

Kids have to be tough to survive on the streets of Kathmandu, where older gang members often beat and rob them. They face cold winters, hunger, homelessness, and unsympathetic police. But under each hardened shell there is still a child.

I won't give up until the exploitation of all children has ended and all children have their rights.

I play video games and watch TV, but there's more to life than that. Faxing and the Internet have created a global community. The kid next door has become the kid in Latin America or Asia.

It's easier to be ignorant and say I don't know about the problem. But once you know, once you've seen it in their eyes, then you have a responsibility to do something. There is strength in numbers, and if we all work together as a team, we can be unstoppable.

Welcome to We Day! Since last year, WE have volunteered over 1.7 million hours of our time!

Child labour is an issue of grave importance. It must become a top priority for all governments of the world. How can the world move into the twenty-first century with children still being exploited for their labour and denied their basic right to an education?

The change starts within each one of us. And ends only when all children are free to be children

Peace is a culture that we create by putting it in the curriculum for young people, through creating this next generation where young people get a chance to go across borders, across cultures, to learn more about each other's life, to create a global community, learn about opportunities for helping others. It's investing in peace and tolerance training, ending the gap between rich and poor.

I feel strongly that Mother Teresa’s life has a great message for young people. We so often feel powerless to do anything about the many problems in the world around us. We are so often left to wonder whether one person can possibly make a difference. Mother Teresa said yes, we can. Her life was resounding proof that it is possible