Nauru Proverbs (20)

“God's Will First.”

Nauru's national motto, inscribed on the coat of arms adopted at independence, reflecting the strong Christian foundation of public and community life on the island.

“We desire the Nauruan nation to be sovereign and free to govern itself.”

DeRoburt's 1962 declaration to the United Nations Trusteeship Council, launching Nauru's formal push for independence from Australian administration.

“We hold it against Britain, Australia and New Zealand to recognize that it is their responsibility to rehabilitate one third of the island.”

Spoken on Nauru's independence day, this held the former administering powers accountable for repairing the land stripped bare by decades of phosphate mining.

“The rule of law without love is tyranny.”

Law and authority must be tempered by compassion and mutual understanding among peoples, or they curdle into oppression.

“Climate change is, for us, a matter of life and death.”

Spoken on behalf of low-lying Pacific island nations, underscoring that climate change is an existential threat rather than an abstract policy debate.

“Unless bold action is taken, much of my region could be rendered uninhabitable within our grandchildren's lifetimes.”

A warning that inaction on climate change threatens to erase the homeland of future generations across the Pacific.

“I forgive you if you have never heard of Nauru — but you will not forgive yourselves if you ignore our story.”

Nauru's small size and obscurity should not excuse the wider world from learning the environmental lesson of its ruined phosphate landscape.

“I am not looking for sympathy, but rather warning you what can happen when a country runs out of options.”

Nauru's story is offered as a practical warning about ecological limits, not as an appeal for pity.

“It would have been disastrous for Nauru. If we had defaulted on one payment, we would have lost the phosphate industry.”

Explaining why his Cabinet unanimously rejected a high-interest emergency loan that risked handing Nauru's remaining phosphate industry to a foreign creditor.

“A terrifying, rising flood of biblical proportions.”

Warning delivered at the Kyoto climate summit about the rising seas threatening the thin coastal strip where most Nauruans live after phosphate mining stripped away the island's interior.

“The climate bill has finally come due. Who will pay?”

Delivered at the Paris climate summit, challenging industrialized nations to accept responsibility for costs now falling hardest on small island states like Nauru.

“We live in an interconnected world and the actions of one country or region impact the lives of people half a world away.”

Argument to the UN General Assembly that the emissions of distant industrial nations directly threaten the survival of small Pacific states.

“If we do not act now, then the next generation of leaders surely will. Global movements led by our youth demand it.”

A call to the UN climate conference in Poland to act immediately rather than leave the burden of climate action to the next generation.

“That's my vision that we work together as a unit, for the prosperity and the betterment of Nauru.”

His stated vision for collaborative, unified governance shortly after being elected President.

“Our community — Nauru, the Pacific, the Small Islands, the international community — is more robust when we stand united.”

Call for solidarity among small island states and the wider international community, delivered to the UN General Assembly.

“There is no resilient prosperity for Nauru, or any of us, without climate action.”

Delivered at the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, linking economic resilience directly to climate action.

“This is not a choice, it is a necessity.”

Speaking of Nauru's Higher Ground Initiative to relocate displaced communities to higher land, framing climate adaptation as unavoidable rather than optional.

“Nauru's story is not one of despair but of resilience.”

Delivered to the UN General Assembly, reframing the narrative of a small island nation reshaped by mining and climate threat as one of endurance rather than victimhood.

“Nauru is an indispensable cautionary tale about life in a place with hard ecological limits.”

Marcus Stephen's summary framing for his New York Times op-ed on how unregulated phosphate mining destroyed Nauru's environment and economy.

Angam

“To have triumphed over all hardships.”

The documented meaning of the Nauruan word "Angam" ("jubilation," "to have triumphed over all hardships," or "coming home"), commemorated every 26 October as Angam Day, marking the two occasions the Nauruan population recovered from the brink of extinction.