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.

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

You can't achieve anything in life without a small amount of sacrifice.

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

There's no better makeup than self-confidence.

Scars remind me of just how far that I've come.

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.

It doesn't matter if you are a musician, a business leader, a president or a student. We all have a responsibility to give back.

I can be like a lioness when defending my people.

Education affects every major challenge we face in society. It creates economic growth, paves the way for peace and stability and helps erase the legacy of marginalization.

Live your life to the fullest.

There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time.

Faith in God is an eager expectation.

I'll tell you a secret.Old storytellers never die.They disappear into their own story.

To enter a room is to move from one environment to another and that, for the teenager, can be traumatic. There be dragons, daily horrors from acne to zit.

New media companies look remarkably like the old ones they aspire to replace: male, pale, and privileged.

I shudder to think where we people of African descent would be without our allies in the international community. It's been our everything, quite frankly.

I didn't have to go to school, graduate and then go, What am I going to do? I knew from the beginning.

It's tough to find a place not to like in Switzerland.

Imagine blocks and blocks of no cocaine, blocks with no gun play.

My hours are peaceful centuries.