The 46-year-old Colombian singer, songwriter, and performer Shakira is one of the most successful pop stars of the past several decades. With songs like “Hips Don’t Lie” and “Whenever, Wherever,” Shakira has sold millions of albums and garnered millions of streams.
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With such global fame, though, one might wonder what Shakira has to say outside of her sultry song lyrics. What are her thoughts on life and love, her career, and the world at large?
So, without further ado, here are the 30 best Shakira quotes.
1. “I’m a closet nerd. I love to study history and visit museums.”
2. “If I can contribute to people having fun, I would feel very fulfilled as an artist.”
3. “Every day now, I discover something new. Go through phases in which I feel much more in touch with my feminine side in ways I never thought possible. I’m letting the woman inside of me speak, the desires of this woman, speak as loud as they can.”
4. “Dealing with boys at work and being the only girl can be challenging. I have my insecurities, but I’ve learned I have to be a good sport. I have to be able to take certain jokes and not take them personally. There are jokes made almost every second of the day. I had to develop a tough hide. You know, the music industry is dominated by guys.”
5. “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. Human beings are slaves to our dreams, and I am, too. Now I think I just want to share my musical proposal in its entire form.”
6. “I feel like I’m not on Earth just to shake it and shake it endlessly, you know?”
7. “The relationship I have with my Hispanic fans is very deep and intricate.”
8. “If the fastest growing population in this country is Latino, that means we are the future of this country. And, we have proven we have talent. Now we need the tools to succeed.”
9. “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.”
10. “I think love is something that you have to work on, and it develops over experience and time. Love is a practice.”
11. “Videos come definitely after the music has been created, but I have always felt, and especially today, that videos are vital in the album process. I think that we live in a very visual era, and if you make a mistake with a video, those images will accompany the song forever.”
12. “I came to understand that I’m never going to be the perfect mother, but I’m going to do the best I can. Same goes for everything in my life.”
13. “All through my twenties, I spent more time worrying about 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.”
14. “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.”
15. “I have no idea where I want to go musically, but I’m fine that way. I don’t need to be faithful to any concept, you know.”
16. “I was a real mummy’s girl—still am. And as for my father, well, I have an Oedipus complex I’m still working out. I love that man!”
17. “The truth is that I’m more afraid of marriage than of death.”
18. “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.”
19. “It’s incredibly liberating to spend an hour talking to someone and not caring about what you sound like. It’s about understanding myself. Sometimes I’ll speak to my therapist for an hour a day. It’s become part of my routine.”
20. “I know that youngsters want to find something in common with each other and feel closer to each other ideologically through bridges such as the Internet.
21. “I would sing anywhere they would invite me. That’s how I made my first pesos. I used to sing at beauty pageants, local events of every sort.”
22. “I consider myself a laborer, building my career brick over brick under the sun.”
23. “I feel like there is a part of me that represents a minority in the U.S., a minority around the world. People who struggle, people who want to succeed with drive and ambition.”
24. “A kid cannot learn with an empty stomach.”
25. “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.”
26. “You can’t achieve anything in life without a small amount of sacrifice.”
27. “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 feel that any woman who is in control, who is in touch with her femininity and sensuality, is a woman that is empowered.”
28. “You’re a song written by the hands of God.”
29. “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.”
30. “I’m barefoot whenever I can be.”
Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
