“Whale Rider” quotes

“We can learn, and if the knowledge is given to everyone then we can have lots of leaders, and soon everyone will be strong, not just the ones that have been chosen.”
Keisha Castle-Hughes - Paikea

“- Paikea: Maori women have got to stop smoking. We've got to protect our childbearing properties.
- Maka: You'd have to be smoking in a pretty funny place to wreck your childbearing properties.”
Keisha Castle-Hughes - Paikea
Mabel Wharekawa - Maka

When you extend your tongues, you're saying to your enemies: "I'm gonna eat you".
Rawiri Paratene - Koro

“If you have the tooth of a whale, you must have the jaw of a whale to yield it.”
Rawiri Paratene - Koro

“- Paikea: Why doesn't he want me?
- Porourangi: He's just looking for something that doesn't exist anymore.”

Keisha Castle-Hughes - Paikea
Cliff Curtis - Porourangi

“In the old days, the land felt a great emptiness. It was waiting. Waiting to be filled up. Waiting for someone to love it. Waiting for a leader.”
Keisha Castle-Hughes - Paikea

“Sometimes even if you're the leader and you need to be strong you can get tired.”
Keisha Castle-Hughes - Paikea

“There was no gladness when I was born. My twin brother died, and took our mother with him.”
Keisha Castle-Hughes - Paikea