“Our identity is ahead of us. After we are dead, people will take our picture and put it on the wall, and it will help them fashion their own identity.”
Kanak identity is not a fixed relic of the past to be preserved unchanged, but something continually built forward, generation after generation.
— Jean-Marie Tjibaou, New Caledonia
Source: Jean-Marie Tjibaou, quoted in academic and cultural accounts of his thought on Kanak identity (e.g. "La présence kanak" and related scholarship on the 1975 Mélanésia 2000 festival)
More Proverbs from New Caledonia
Do not reject the words of the elders.
The counsel of elders carries hard-won experience and should never be dismissed by the young.
The future is before you — do not turn back.
Face forward and keep moving toward what is ahead rather than dwelling on what is behind.
The bourao leaf is carried off by the current, not knowing where it goes.
A person without direction or purpose drifts through life at the mercy of circumstance, just like a leaf swept along by water.
The best defense against an enemy is to attack first.
Waiting passively for trouble to arrive is weaker than meeting a threat with decisive action.
Rid yourself of shame and timidity, and accomplish your will.
Excessive shyness or self-doubt holds people back; real progress requires the courage to act.
Think before you act.
Careful reflection before a decision prevents the regret that follows a hasty one.