“If you keep your bush knife sharp, you will clear yourself a bigger plantation.”
Staying motivated and keeping your tools and skills ready leads to greater reward — steady effort expands what you can achieve.
— Traditional Niue Wisdom, Niue
Source: Traditional Niuean proverb, recorded in Niue Language Week cultural materials (New Zealand Ministry for Pacific Peoples) and cited in contemporary reporting on Niuean life, public-domain oral tradition
More Proverbs from Niue
The king who became food for the rats while he lay in hiding.
A cautionary historical saying recalling a Niuean king who reportedly hid from his people during a famine and died alone and forgotten — a warning that a leader who abandons duty and people in hard times will themselves be abandoned by history.
Traditional Niue Wisdom
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When you speak with authority, make sure you follow through with actions.
Words carry real weight only when they are backed by matching deeds — a call for integrity between what a person says and what they do.
Traditional Niue Wisdom
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