Maori Quotes

“Our people once were warriors. But unlike you, Jake, they were people with mana, pride; people with spirit. If my spirit can survive living with you for eighteen years, then I can survive anything.”
― Alan Duff, Once Were Warriors

“Give me the Maori Battalion and I will conquer the world”
― Erwin Rommel, War

“Take no heed of good looks , but rather of callused hand.
Old Maori saying: Choose a husband for his work, not his appearance.”
― Toni Polancy, Hawaii in Love

“It's the shape of the stories that matters, the way belief forms around it. The story has real weight', He pointed at himself. 'Patupaiarehe look like monsters in some stories, but they're beautiful in a lot. I guess people believed more in the beautiful version. And the ideal of beauty changes. If I'd been born two hundred years ago, I bet I wouldn't look like this. The stories shaped me. They shape everyone, inside and out, but me more than most, because I'm magic.”
― Karen Healey, Guardian of the Dead

“This is the last spear. It is the seed of Paikea and we must return it to the land.”
― Witi Ihimaera, The Whale Rider