Writing in English was a major challenge. I didn't want other songwriters to write for me. I wanted to preserve the spirit of my songs in Spanish. I am the same Shakira in English as I am in Spanish.

Writing songs has a therapeutic effect, and it either kills off love or wins the heart of the lover.

I want some day to be able to love with the same intensity and unselfishness that parents love their children with.

I pefer an ugly truth to a pretty lie. If someone is telling me the truth that is when I will give my heart.

It doesn't bother me to talk about my private life, it doesn't bother me to talk about anything. My life is like a glass of water, transparent.

I admire Madonna because she always did whatever she felt like doing. She went through some controversial periods when people rejected her, but she kept on reinventing herself.

I admire a person who, for the love of art, is able to take off their clothes in front of a camera. But I'm not capable, I'm too cowardly for that.

I am trying to make my accent so it won't bother anyone, but I am not going to drive myself crazy trying to pretend I am an American girl when I am from Colombia.

Everyone can know what is in my heart because I find it hard to conceal myself.

I'm Colombian and nothing will change that.

I don't go out without make up. I'm a woman, you know.

Writing in English was a major challenge. I didn't want other songwriters to write for me. I wanted to preserve the spirit of my songs in Spanish. I am the same Shakira in English as I am in Spanish.

I always believed that women have rights and that there are some women that are intelligent enough to claim those rights. There are some others that are stupid enough not to.

In this life, to earn your place you have to fight for it.

Because of you, I'm running out of reasons to cry.

My songs are the reflection of how I think and how I feel in that moment. But I'm conscious of the fact that artists have a responsibility before the masses and they have to take care with their words.

I was unaware of the dispute in Brooklyn. I would never knowingly wear any clothes or support any company who produced clothing with alleged wage and labor violations.

You're a song written by the hands of God.

My team and I have reunited two elements that coexist with difficulty: respect and affection, because when they love you they don't respect you and when they respect you they don't love you.

'Elixir' means magical potion, so I wanted to depict the kind of bottle that was used in ancient times, but that looked modern and chic as well. I also wanted it to have a golden tint to evoke the memories of sands and sunsets.

A good fragrance should have a certain personality that makes people identify the scent with you.

A man's car is like an extension of their ego and their manhood.

All through my twenties, I spent more time worrying what I didn't have than thinking about what I did have. I wished that I was taller, had longer legs, slimmer hips, a smaller bottom, even straighter hair.

Always I was dreaming of a record contract. From 10 to 13, it was all I could think of. I worked hard for this dream. Nobody could say I didn't try.

At the age of eight, I discovered that I could write songs. My dad used to take them to the notary and register them so that nobody could steal them from me.

Becoming a mom forced me to re-prioritize and make room for the things that are most important, while recognizing that there are things I can let go of, and the world won't crumble around me.

Being raised in a developing country opened my eyes to so much I cannot tolerate. In Colombia, education is sometimes considered a luxury, not a human right. And it's not a priority in the agendas of many leaders.

Both the IDB and Fundacion ALAS believe that the future of prosperity and equality that we hope for has to start today with higher investment and higher quality in Early Childhood Development programs throughout the region.

Brazil is a country I hold very dearly. I've got followers there who I've been interacting with for years, as well as fellow artists like Ivete Sangalo, and it also has huge figures like Pele. I'd love to go to that World Cup - I'm not sure in what capacity, but I'll definitely be there. I know that nobody wants to miss it, least of all me.

Education is the only way forward in Latin America and developing countries in general.

Fame isolates people from reality. That happens to many artists, and I don't want it to happen to me.

For a while, I could only wear sweat pants because I was that intermediate size that you're not a small, you're not a large.

From a psychoanalytical point of view, we start discovering the world through our mouths in the very first stage of our lives, when we're just born.

Gerard and I pretty much share all parenting responsibilities, although I'm definitely the disciplinarian.

Gerard is just like me, but two meters tall. We're very alike; it's not for nothing that we were born on the same day, it's just that he was born 10 years later... he's a happy guy, healthy here, in the head.

Guys don't like women telling them what to do. It reminds them of their mothers, or something like that.

I always had the intuition, even as a little child, that I was called for a big project.

I always knew that I was tremendously creative. I recited love poems, I wrote stories and I got excellent grades in every subject, except for maths.

I am a person who has many dreams. But as soon as I accomplish one, I move on to the next. That's my fatal, absurd nature.

I believe that every single one of us, celebrity or not, has a responsibility to get involved in trying to make a difference in the world. Our generation faces many challenges, some of which were passed on to us by the past generations, but it's up to us to find solutions today so that we don't keep passing our problems on.

I can take the spotlight that shines on me and shift it towards those issues that are infinitely more important than my own issues.

I consider myself a laborer, building my career brick over brick under the sun.

I did not want to spend the rest of my life not being able to ride in a nice car.

I didn't expect babies to need so many diapers. Nobody told me they needed to be changed so often.

I do feel that I have to use my voice for those that don't have one. I have to do the best I can in my own work to represent my culture, represent the women of my country, of Latin America. What we stand for. What we're made of.

I do take advantage of, you know, feeling sensual and feeling sexy. And I think that is tremendously empowering and is not diminishing in any way. I fell that any woman who is in control, who is in touch with her femininity and sensuality, is a woman that is empowered.

I feel a real sense of duty to use the voice and the platform I've been afforded by my fame to speak out for those whose voices don't get a chance to be heard.

I feel comfortable in my pop shoes. They let me walk in any direction. I like to go from one extreme to the other. One day I feel that I want to do a song with reggaeton influence, I do it. The next day I feel I need to do a song with rock elements to it, I do it.

I feel like I'm not on Earth just to shake it and shake it endlessly, you know?