1. I prefer an ugly truth to a pretty lie. If someone is telling me the truth that is when I will give my heart. 2. In this life, to earn your place you have to fight for it.
3. You're a song written by the hands of God.
5. I don't go out without make up. I'm a woman, you know.
6. 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.
8. Everyone can know what is in my heart because I find it hard to conceal myself.
9. 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.
11. 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.
12. I remember the first time I saw the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video. I will never forget that day. I just wanted to see Kurt Cobain's face. I had a feeling he was very cute. But, I couldn't see his face. When I finally did see him, he was even cuter than I imagined!
14. I love reading about history. Sometimes, I feel I was born in the wrong era. There was more creativity in the air when people were still discovering new worlds.
15. 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.
17. I'm Colombian and nothing will change that.
18. I'm like a mosquito, I love humidity. I don't sweat.
19. I'm lucky to have family around me. Otherwise, I'll be taking the risk of falling in love with myself.
20. I'm more afraid of marriage than death.
22. My brain, I believe, is the most beautiful part of my body.
23. 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.
25. People think I like to expose my body. But I don't. It's just because the dance moves require it.
26. The worst frustration for a singer is choosing a career in making music and then not being able to make music because you're always giving interviews.
28. You can't achieve anything in life without a small amount of sacrifice.
29. Writing songs has a therapeutic effect, and it either kills off love or wins the heart of the lover.
30. 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.
32. I expect my beloved to be kind, generous, I expect him not to lie so I can look him straight in the eyes, and I expect him to fall in love with me 10 times a day.
33. I'm a believer. I try to be near God, because when I feel that there's a certain distance, everything begins to look like a blur. It makes the road somewhat smoother. When I feel that I'm without God, I have to make an effort to drag my feet to keep on going.
35. Earlier I tried not to show my stomach, because I thought it wasn't perfect and I would have seemed fat. I would have died! But that does not bother me anymore. Like my dad says there is nothing more beautiful than some meat on the bones.
36. For several years I worried a lot about protecting an image, but today I have understood that the image cannot be preconceived.
38. I don't like the competition part of soccer. It's a war in short pants. I prefer art.
39. I think that that's why I am probably a romantic and a passionate person. But I also have a very disciplined side, very disciplined and very demanding. Sometimes my sense of responsibility is my worst torturer.
40. This city sounds like jazz. (on New York)
41. I had a big collection of fried eggs that I painted.
43. I think that we see war as a virtual thing and we even get to believe that bombs fall on top of cardboard cutouts and stuff like that. They don't. They kill real people, real children, real mothers and millions of innocent people.
45. You can laugh, but since I was a child I knew that I was going to be a well- known singer/songwriter; that was something I had no doubts about. It was almost like a prophecy.
46. I had my first boyfriend when I was 12, and my parents knew about it. My dad was very jealous. I had an older sister in medical school and he would not let her wear tight jeans.
47. I cannot expect that I will be successful my whole life. We live so caught up in the moment, it's important to get some perspective. Ultimately, I know I've been very lucky.
49. Colombia is a country of victims and not of murderers.
51. I've gone through everything with the paparazzi, where they are even hanging from the trees trying to get a picture. But I have a wonderful relationship with the press. I don't feel mistreated. There is great communication between me and the media and that makes me feel so lucky because I see how an artist can suffer. But I also live a life a journalist would find very boring. I've been dating the same guy for six years. I'm not a party animal, and you never see me shopping because I hate shopping.
52. When I perform, I find myself exorcised of everything that keeps me trapped in my everyday life.
54. I certainly don't want to identify with Cinderella, she had a dream that lasted only until midnight. I want it to last until at least 3 a.m.
55. I think in every artist's life, when, right after a performance, we get to feel a certain loneliness and solitude. After receiving so much attention and love from your fans, suddenly everything stops.
57. In some moment, I came to fall into the claws of moralism. Something very typical for a Latin-American woman, who has lived in a culture of repression. I thought I had all the answers, I was full of hasty judgments. Today I feel more liberated and open. I'm more tolerant. I respect ideas different to mine. Moralism is a disease. It shouldn't be exactly related to religion, but it is true that my view of religion has also changed lately.
58. When you fall in love, you prioritize everything. It's like cleaning up and putting things in place.
60. A bed is still the first thing I look for when I have 20 free minutes. I still read a book if I have a free hour, and go to a movie if I have four.
61. I want to learn how to live in the present with my eyes open. Because, you know, we always go through the present blindfolded with our hearts in the past and our minds in the future. And that way we never enjoy the here and now.
62. Nationalism is cured by traveling.
63. I think I look like a chipmunk.
64. I never went through an adolescence when kids become rebels and do drugs. I was always the good girl.
66. My belly dancing represents me - it's a trademark. I've tried to incorporate it in original ways in modern songs. But sometimes it bugs me a bit that people resort to (saying) that I'm shaking my ass with a huge sexual charge, instead of recognizing it as a move that, yeah, it's loaded with sensuality, but it's also part of an artistic expression.
68. The cobra is deadly but mongoose can overcome it. We all have possibility to defeat prejudiced and resentment in our lives. Fear is the thing that makes us attack, that makes us strike. We must overcome it. We must.
70. I have learned that I am an adult already. And to grow with something is sometimes painful. And its great; I don't say it's a bad thing-but many things change, and many more responsibilities come, and you have more closure in your life, and more possibilities. It's just that it's not as pink as before, but its more interesting.
72. I make music and i wear sexy clothes, I don't make poorly lit porn photos in hotels like Paris Hilton.
What do you think of Shakira's quotes?
