Māori Quotes

“Māoridom in Aotearoa dictates that we generate prestige from manaakitanga. It is the connection and hospitality we express for those in our care but also to show all that they are our equal, they too have mana. What many may not know is that manaakitanga fortifies all those involved in its practice. The high-calibre nourishment that we express sustains our mana as much as those we give it to. Manaaki helps us unlock ourselves to the experience of service and activated respect. It is not pious or sacraficial in nature. It is not foolish either, however it has been mistaken for such and historically abused by settler colonialism. For Māori, manaakitanga is restorative of an unseen order, far beyond anything transactional.”
― Coco Solid, How to Loiter In a Turf War

“Titiro ki te rangi tahuri rawa ake, kahore he whenua e . . . Kua riro." We looked up to heaven and before we knew where we were there was no land left . . . all gone.”
― Witi Ihimaera, The Matriarch

“Each no-dig hāngi we make in the oven with cabbage leaves sutures a different part of me back together. Every time we collect and cook something together with love and joy makes up for every time I ate until I was sick. We take a small moment each day to stand in my parents’ garden in the sun. To nourish ourselves, we harvest the earth and the beings that spring from it. All our small attempts to care for ourselves and each other wash away some of the shadowy figures that have followed us around for so long.
I have a knife, a basket, and two legs. He kai kei aku ringa.”
― Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall, Tauhou