Ngā Whakataukī
Folk & Oral Tradition
Traditional New Zealand Wisdom gathers the whakataukī — the proverbs and traditional sayings of the Māori people — that have been carried by oral tradition across many generations of Aotearoa New Zealand. These sayings have no single named author; they are the shared inheritance of tūpuna (ancestors), elders, orators, and storytellers who distilled hard-won experience, values, and observation of the natural world into a few memorable words. Whakataukī draw richly on the land and sea, on the waka (canoe), the forest and its birds, the mountains, and on the deep Māori values of whānau (family), manaakitanga (care and hospitality), unity, and courage. They are still spoken today at gatherings on the marae, in speeches, and in everyday life, where they teach cooperation, aspiration, resilience, and respect for people above all else. Because they live in spoken language rather than in a single fixed printed source, small variations exist between iwi (tribes) and retellings. This platform records widely recognised forms and, in keeping with its accuracy rule, presents them as traditional Māori wisdom rather than attributing them to any one person.
Sources: Hirini Moko Mead & Neil Grove, 'Ngā Pēpeha a ngā Tīpuna' (Victoria University Press, 2001) · Traditional Māori oral tradition (whakataukī), public-domain folk wisdom
“What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.”
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī (proverb), public-domain oral tradition; documented in Mead & Grove, 'Ngā Pēpeha a ngā Tīpuna' (2001)
“Seek the treasure you value most dearly: if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.”
Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tuohu koe me he maunga teitei.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī, public-domain oral tradition
“We are all in this canoe together, without exception.”
He waka eke noa.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī, public-domain oral tradition
“Walking backwards into the future.”
Ka mua, ka muri.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī, public-domain oral tradition
“With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive.”
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī, public-domain oral tradition
“The person who stands lives; the person who sits perishes.”
Tama tū tama ora, tama noho tama mate.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī, public-domain oral tradition
“Let us keep close together, not far apart.”
Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī, public-domain oral tradition
“Feathers enable the bird to fly.”
Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī, public-domain oral tradition
“Be strong, be brave, be steadfast.”
Kia kaha, kia toa, kia manawanui.
Source: Traditional Māori whakataukī, public-domain oral tradition