Quotes from Amanda Lindhout

I think it's the human spirit inside of all of us that has an enormous capacity to survive.

Christmas was the one time of year when my brothers surfaced at home, when my parents and grandparents congregated to eat my mother's roast turkey.

Hillary Clinton has a strong and powerful voice regarding ending violence against women and girls.

The big-time journalists generally had kidnapping insurance through their news organizations. Usually, it would pay for a crisis response company to help negotiate for a hostage's release. Freelancers most often had none.

My faith in human decency was sorely tested at times during my captivity; however, after my release, I am humbly reminded that mankind is inherently good by the tremendous efforts and support of fellow Canadians.

Every day I have many choices to make about who I want to be.

It was a slow understanding that my kidnappers really are a product of their environment.

The countries with the greatest problems have the kindest people.

You have a responsibility to move your dreams forward, no matter what.

Accompanied by an Australian photographer named Nigel Brennan, I'd gone to Somalia to work as a freelance journalist, on a trip that was meant to last only ten days.

What happened to me in Somalia doesn't define me.

Somalia is an important story in the world, and it needed to be told.

It was a slow understanding that the lack of education in a country like Somalia creates these huge social problems.

Somalia is very dangerous, and no one knows that better than I.

Going into Somalia, I didn't anticipate how many people's lives would be affected by it. In hindsight, I certainly wish I had taken more time to think about that, but I can't change it.

I must try desperately to absorb all information I can about the Middle East. I want to excel. I want to speak articulately about the politics of the Middle East and its religion.

For a while, the world for me was like a set of monkey bars. I swung from one place to the next, sometimes backward, sometimes forward, capitalizing on my own momentum, knowing that at some point my arms... would give out, and I'd fall to the ground.

I don't only long for the thrill of being in the middle of a war, I must understand it; I must make other people understand.

Women in Somalia face almost unimaginable oppression.

I don't think I'm unusual in that, in my 20s, like many people, I felt invincible.

I went through an extremely trying ordeal, but I never forgot the world outside was a beautiful place.

Hamdi Ulukaya and Chobani have made the decision to feed 250,000 victims of the Somali famine. Their compassion speaks for itself, and is a shining example of how the business community can have an enormous positive impact on the world.

Sometimes, you have to make the choice to forgive 10 times a day when you have these pockets of anger come up. That's a lot of work, but to me it's worthwhile.

I used my captors names every chance I had. It was intentional, a way of reminding them that I saw them, of pegging them, of making them see me in return.