I admire woman like Marissa Mayer, the first female engineer and then CEO of Yahoo. Women who don't only strive to be the equals of men, but who strive to live up to their full potential.

I came out of a building and this woman stopped me, like, 'You're Miss Universe!' And she was a New Yorker! I'm not used to New Yorkers being fans, because they're so blase about it, you know.

In some places, women get paid 75 percent of what men earn for doing the same job, working the same hours, and I do not believe that is right.

As a young girl, I would watch the Miss South Africa competition wishing with all my heart that one day I, too, would be able to walk on that stage, just like those glamorous women I saw on television.

The E.U. is more than just a trade organization or a common market; it is a guarantee of democracy, freedom, justice, and human rights. Nations cannot stay in the E.U. if they do not respect these guarantees.

Climate change is important to Malawi, but many people see alternative energy more as a means to skip the government and get electricity and power. Deforestation is a huge problem in Malawi, which only adds to the problem. People cut down trees because they have no power to run electric stoves, etc. So they use firewood.

The creative project of self-government - hard and frustrating but necessary - is to produce that political commonwealth that changes over time, that can change sometimes by the minute, if circumstances intervene.

If we are to maintain our position as a global economic leader, we've got to end the govern-by-crisis mentality that sets us back instead of moving us forward.