Witi Ihimaera Quotes

“Man might carve his mark on the earth, but unless he’s vigilant, Nature will take it all back.”

“Our Koro was like an old whale stranded in an alien present, but that was how it was supposed to be, because he also had his role in the pattern of things, in the tides of the future”

″‘This is a sign to us,’ Koro Apirana said again.”

“She was going with the whales into the sea and the rain. She was a small figure in a white dress, kicking at the whale as if it were a horse, her braids swinging in the rain.”

“And the whale herd sang their gladness that the tribe would also live, because they knew that the girl would need to be carefully taught before she could claim the place for her people in the world”

″‘Never mind girl,’ she said to baby Kahu. ‘Your birth cord is here. No matter where you may go, you will always return. You will never be lost to us.‘”

“Kahu put her face against Nancy Flowers’s cheeks. Her voice was drained and defeated. ‘It’s not Paka’s fault, Nanny,’ she said, ‘that I’m a girl.‘”

″‘I love you,’ Koro Apirana said.”

“just as I was maturing in my own understanding, she, too, was moving closer and closer to that point where she was in the right place at the right time, with the right understanding to accomplish the task that had been assigned to her. In this respect there is no doubt in my mind that she had always been the right person”

“Rules are meant to be broken”