When you see corruption, when you see injustice, you speak up. You don't just shut up and say it's none of my business.
The rain begins with a single drop.
All I did was ask for rights. I didn't attack anyone. I didn't harass anyone. I didn't oppose the system or the country or the authority. All I said is, 'Why can't I drive?'
In May 2011, I drove a car in the city of Khobar, Saudi Arabia, to protest the kingdom's ban on women driving.
Everything is possible; we just need to be hopeful and think of the world from a human perspective. The world is so small compared to the universe, so we shouldn't fight for petty things.
In Saudi Arabia, they always tell us we are queens. We are pistachios. You know the nut? Like something that is protected. So even if you have a very good education, restraints are put on women.
For us, driving is not what we are looking for, but being in the driver's seat of our only destiny. That means ending guardianship in Saudi Arabia, which means recognizing women as full citizens.
My message to the world is to surrender your ego: try not to think that you are not as fortunate as some people or inferior or not as good as someone else.
When women break that taboo and they're not afraid to drive that car by herself - that's it. Now she has the guts to speak up for herself and take action.
My mother gave birth to me on the floor of our apartment in Mecca with only my toddler sister to help her because my father was at work and no male guardian was available to take her to a hospital.
It took me a long, long time to break the chains that's inside me.
I'm just a human being who would not accept being wronged.
We won't stop until the first Saudi license is issued to a woman.
Women tell me they are different since 21 May - the day I was arrested - it's a positive change, they believe now.
Women want to drive and they are taking actual steps towards that.
Denying women the right to drive has imposed huge costs on Saudi citizens.
I always say that countries that keep women in the backseat will always end up on the wrong side of history.
The bicycle freed 19th-century women from their homes and from their dependence on men. I hope that in Saudi Arabia, the car will do the same.
In the Saudi system, women are considered inferior. No matter our age, we have male guardians. We must get permission from men to attend school, to work, to marry, to travel overseas - even to have basic medical procedures.
We should not label people who speak up, because it should not be the exception - it should be the norm. When you see something wrong, you speak up.
