Quotes from Phan Thi Kim Phuc

When those four bombs fell, I was in the middle and I should have died.

Sometimes I could not breathe, but God saved my life and gave me faith and hope.

I remember June 8, 1972. I saw the airplane. And it's so loud, so close to me. Suddenly, the fire everywhere around me. The fire burned off my clothes. And I saw my arm got burned with the fire. I thought, oh, my goodness, I get burned. People will see me different way.

I have two boys, so I don't want any more child to suffer like me.

When I meet children and people who suffer, when they mention any kind of pain, emotional pain, physical pain, I know what they need, because it's the same thing I need. They need healing, they need peace, they need joy, they need hope.

I asked why me? Why did I have to suffer so much pain and scars? I was just a little girl - I didn't do anything wrong.

In the picture, I am crying from pain. Now, I cry for peace. I don't want to see any more children suffer.

I have suffered a lot from both physical and emotional pain.

I suffered too much and I want to stop the suffering of other people.

I really wanted to escape from that little girl. But it seems to me that the picture didn't let me go.

If I ever see those pilots who dropped the bombs on me - or any American pilots - I would say to them, 'The war is over. The past is past.' I would ask those pilots what can they do to bring us all together.

Every movement of mine was under the control of the Vietnamese government, a communist country. I was just a prisoner without walls.

Even if I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bombs I would tell him, 'We cannot change history, but we should try to do good things for the present and for the future to promote peace.'

I went through 17 operations. I had to deal with the pain every single day. I used to compare my scars with buffalo skin. And because my skin wasn't have any pores, I cannot sweat, make me feel so tired, so headache.

I cannot sweat because there is no hair and no pores on the skin grafts. And, can you imagine, there is no blood at all in my scars?

I never thought that the child who was a famous symbol of war would one day be invited to become a symbol of peace.

In 1974, I cried all day long. I kept putting my well arm next to my left one, which could not move. My mother kept saying, 'Don't be sad. If you cry, I will cry and then we will all be twice as sad.'

For years I bore the crippling weight of anger, bitterness and resentment toward those who caused my suffering. Yet as I look back over a spiritual journey that has spanned more than three decades, I realize the same bombs that caused so much pain and suffering also brought me to a place of great healing. Those bombs led me to Jesus Christ.

I am praying every day for peace.

I know what it is like to experience terror, to feel despondent, to live in fear. I know how wearying and hopeless life can be sometimes.

Yet I was ready for love and joy. I wanted to let go of my pain. I wanted to pursue life instead of holding fast to fantasies of death.

Dear friends: faith and forgiveness is much more powerful than napalm could ever be.

When I felt real forgiveness, my heart was set free.

I really want to say, 'Thank God I'm alive.' I want to forgive the people who caused my suffering. I did.