Māori Leaders quotes and sayings

Michael King noted in his biography of Te Puea: the difficultly of writing about past and present Māori leaders is that there is very little written by them. I have also found this to be true of inspirational things they say.

This is a copy from my site https://www.taiuru.maori.nz/maori-leaders-quotes-sayings/ that I felt was appropriate to share on LinkedIn today as we start a new business year.

The list is still in its infancy and I will be continually updating my site with various Māori leaders . In the meantime, I hope this list will spark some thinking and motivation.

Api Mahuika

1. Pakeha education is another preparation for leadership in the tribal situation, regardless of what they may achieve in the in the wider community. (1975) King, Michael. Te Ao hurihuri, the world moves on: aspects of Maoritanga.
2. The educated rangatira provided the bridge between the traditional society and the new Pakeha one. (1975) King, Michael. Te Ao hurihuri, the world moves on: aspects of Maoritanga.

Atholl Anderson

1. The claims process was an incubator for leadership. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
2. The benefit of the Waitangi Tribunal claims far outweighed the financial return. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.

Dame ātairangikaahu

1. If you can’t speak on behalf of your people why are you here? (in relation to representatives at hui) (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.

Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi

1. Maoridom at the moment is in a state of disarray. We’re so busy squabbling with each other that the collective contribution and the collective strength is dissipated because we’re too busy, in silo fashion, getting into this ‘how do we get more money. RadioNZ

Graham Hingangaroa Smith

1. If your life has been too smooth and uneventful then you may be too accepting of the status quo. In this regards struggle is important and formative. It makes you think about what you’re for, as well as what you are against. People often just see what they are against, as opposed to being able to understand what is what it is they are struggling for and to change. Once we understand our struggle frm both of these perspectives it can be genuinely transferring. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
2. The point is that all Māori academics need to be working for change. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
3. Māori leadership must enable the social, cultural, economic and political well being of Māori. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
4. Goof Māori leadership is responsive to the needs of our communities and iwi at large. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
5. Privatised academic: my criticism is that too many Māori and Indigenous academics are self-serving, engaged simply for their own personal outcomes. Being a Māori academic is more than just a whakapapa claim. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
6. Māori academics need to position themselves alongside thier iwi and communities. They have to guard against the seduction of elitism. An academic credential does not automatically confer leadership status. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.

Hana O’Regan

1. If we succeed in our goals, it will be our success. If we fail, it will be our own failure. We will own the path we travel, and we will shape our own dreams. We own our destiny. (2001) O’Regan Hana. Ko Tahu Ko Au. Horomaka Publishing.
2. It is allright to be who we are as Kāi Tahu, and that just becuase we may possess cultural, physical or political differences, we are no less Māori because of it. (2001) O’Regan Hana. Ko Tahu Ko Au. Horomaka Publishing.

Irihapeti Ramsden

1. Māori have until recently been passive consumers of a health service that they have had little input into. As yet Māori have little control over funding, policy and delivery of health service in the State sector. Many Māori would argue that this situation is in contravention of the promise of the second article to protect the
2. “unqualified exercise of Māori chieftainship…over lands, villages, and all their treasures” Tino rangatiratanga guarantee has not been realised while Māori cannot gain autonomy in health service and become accountable to Māori.

John Rangihau

1. I can’t go around saying because I’m Maori that Maoritanga means this and all Maori have to follow me. (1975) King, Michael. Te Ao hurihuri, the world moves on: aspects of Maoritanga.

Margie Maaka

1. Māori and indigenous leadership is about the work being done and how leaders are preparing the next generation of leaders to accommodate the needs of our people. You can’t be an effective leader if yo don’t work with the community or understand them in their world.
2. The Western institution’s definition of scholarship is about how many publications a professor has in obscure refereed journals with low acceptance rates that nobody ever read. For me, scholarship – in terms of indigenous or Māori – is about working with the communities we should be serving. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.

Miria Simpson

1. Emailing someone in the same office is not communication (2001)

Piripi Walker

1. Māori received the “rats and mice” from the post-auction FM frequency barrel, months after the auction.
2. Māori didn’t write the Treaty nor initiate the migration and colonisation which necessitated it. They are entitled to cling to the contract their ancestors signed.

Linda Tuhiwai Smith

1. In education we talk about whānau all the time, but to me it’s hpocritical to be writing about it and not practicing it. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
2. What i fear is that people will not carry on the work. The next generation have to pick up what the last generation have created, and do more work.  (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.

Ngāpare Hopa

1. The mamae that generations of our people have endured were never fogotten and for many of us are yet to be forgiven. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
2. At home I wondered what to do next and ow my background and my passion for education could help our people. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
3. I have had a long, interesting, varied and enjoyable career, but there are many tasks still to tackle and battles to win. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.

Parekura Horomia

1. Kia ora Chief!

Sacha McMeeking

1. Tā Tipene’s generation landed the Ngāi Tahu Settlement, and then it was the job of the next generation to manage that settlement. Now the tribe is wealthy and is rebuilding its culture. It is important that the tribe continues to hold conversations around leadership and succession. Ngāi Tahu web site.
2. Māori leaders in the 21st century have to be connected both technologically and with people, and they will often face global challenges, not challenges unique to Māoridom.

Sir Mason Durie

1. Māori academics have two major challenges: to be great academics judged by worldwide standards, and to be relevant to Māori. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.

Tā James Hēnare

1. The language is the life force of the mana Māori. The word is the life force of the language. These two ideas are absolutely crucial to the Māori language. A language, which is a gift to us from God. Source.
2. You have come to far not to go further; you have done too much, not to do more.
3. It is preposterous that any Māori should aspire to become a poor Pākehā, when their true destiny, prescribed by the creator, is to become a great Māori.
4. It is preposterous that any Māori should aspire to become a poor pākehā, when their true destiny, prescribed by the Creator, is to become a great Māori

Tā Mark Solomon

1. My dream for our people is simple: to be culturally strong, healthy and happy. Ngāi Tahu web site.
2. Māori abuse of children was a learned behavior and was not traditional. 2010 Jigsaw National Conference.
3. I want to mihi to my relations, particularly the complainants, who are some of the bravest people I know. Ngāi Tahu

Tā Tipene O’Regan

1. Lawyers could be the new muskets. In reference to settling raruraru without tikanga (2016).
2. Myth is the only reality
3. There is no point having lots of light if you don’t have a dark to put it in
4. The notion at stake is the Treaty right to development, something Māori fought hard for and is now being overridden.
5. Until we are our own owners, we are denying the rangatira that our tūpuna placed upon us to protect or recover. (2001) O’Regan Hana. Ko Tahu Ko Au. Horomaka Publishing.
6. We have to strengthen the confidence of the flax-roots people. If they are strong, the people are strong. If the cooks are happy the marae is happy. (2001) O’Regan Hana. Ko Tahu Ko Au. Horomaka Publishing.

Timoti Karetu

1. There is an apathy and a torpor pervading the whole of the Māori world, and the language is its victim. NZ Herald.

Te Puea

1. When my lift is written I want the truth told and nothing but the truth.

Wally Penetito

1. You’re going to be a better person for what you do by working with people who are better than you are at academic work… It’s having that idea there of somebody setting a standard for you, pushing you through it and pulling you along into it. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
2. It’s one of those things as Māori you don’t have a choice about, you get on with it and do the best you can with it. (2015). Kātene, Selwyn. Fire that Kindles Hearts. Steele Roberts Publishers.
3. It’s not what Māori are doing for society but what Pākehā are doing about things Māori.

 Whina Cooper

1. Not one more acre of Māori land