Malala Yousafzai says she decided against hitting the Taliban with a shoe - because she didn't want to stoop to their level.
The teenage Nobel Peace Prize contender said instead she would "fight through peace and dialogue".
In an interview with the US Daily Show, she wowed host Jon Stewart with her composure in the face of death threats aimed at her by the Taliban.
When she considered the threats, at first she would say: "Malala, just take a shoe and hit them," she said, to laughter from the audience.
"But then I said if you hit a Talib, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib.
“You must not treat others with cruelty…You must fight others through peace and through dialogue and through education.”
The schoolgirl was shot by the Taliban a year ago for speaking out about girls' education rights in Pakistan.
Once she decided she could not respond with violence, Yousafzai thought about what she would say to a terrorist.
“I would tell him how important education is and that I would even want education for your children as well. That’s what I want to tell you,” she envisioned saying, “now do what you want.”