Aloha Betrayed Quotes

“Ua mau ke ea ο ka ‘āina i ka pono” (roughly, “The sovereignty of the land has been continued because it is pono”), which became the mō’ī’s motto. It later became the motto of the kingdom, and then (strangely or perversely) was appropriated as the motto of the State of Hawai‘i, where it is usually translated as “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” “Ea,” which can mean “life” or “breath” as well as “sovereignty,” in its original context was clearly meant to signify sovereignty.”
― Noenoe K. Silva, Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism