Excellence: proverbial wisdom






Whāia te iti kahurangi
Ki te tūohu koe, me he maunga teitei
- Pursue excellence – should you stumble, let it be to a lofty mountain
Māori proverbs called ‘whakataukī’, ‘whakatauākī’ or ‘pepeha’ are sayings that reflect the thoughts, values and advice of past generations. They are usually very succinct and often use metaphor to convey key messages. A short whakataukī will often be so accurate in capturing a thought or moment, there will be little need for any other words to explain it further. Proverbs are important to the revival of Māori language – they carry flair, imagery and metaphor embodying the uniqueness of the language.

Comments

Sonia said…
We use this proverb within our organisation -
Tama Tu Tama Ora
Standing Together In Wellness.

A colleague of mine is always saying this to me -
titiro, whakarongo, kōrero
look, listen, then speak.

Yip sometimes I am saying things when perhaps I should just sit.....hmm but people who know me, well that is sort of hard to do at times...