Queen Liliuokalani Quotes

Never cease to act because you fear you may fail. Spoken to to her adopted daughter | january 1917

The chief whose retainers were in any poverty or want would have felt, not only their sufferings, but, further, his own disgrace.

References to Te Pō occur in myths and chants throughout Polynesia, including one of the most famous of all, a two-thousand-line Hawaiian creation chant known as the Kumulipo, meaning “Beginning in deep darkness.” Composed at the beginning of the eighteenth century to mark the birth of the high chief Lonoikamakahiki, it begins, in Queen Lili‘uokalani’s translation: At the time that turned the heat of the earth At the time when the heavens turned and changed At the time when the light of the sun was subdued To cause light to break forth At the time of the night of Makalii [winter] Then began the slime which established the earth, The source of deepest darkness Of the depth of darkness, of the depth of darkness, Of the darkness of the sun, in the depth of night, It is night, So night was born.

Oh, honest Americans, as Christians hear me for my down-trodden people! Their form of government is as dear to them as yours is precious to you. Quite as warmly as you love your country, so they love theirs...It is for them that I would give the last drop of my blood; it is for them that I would spend, nay, am spending, everything belonging to me. Will it be in vain? It is for the American people and their representatives in Congress to answer these questions. As they deal with me and my people, kindly, generously, and justly, so may the Great Ruler of all nations deal with the grand and glorious nation of the United States of America. Queen Lili'uokalani, 1896

the promulgation of a new constitution, adapted to the needs of the times and the demands of the people, has been an indisputable prerogative of the Hawaiian monarchy.

Not since Mr. Kaiser,” they would say, as if the construction of the Hawaiian Village Hotel on a few acres of reclaimed tidal flat near Fort De Russy had in one swing of the builder’s crane wiped out their childhoods and their parents’ childhoods, blighted forever some subtropical cherry orchard where every night in the soft blur of memory the table was set for forty-eight in case someone dropped by; as if Henry Kaiser had personally condemned them to live out their lives in California exile among only their token mementos, the calabashes and the carved palace chairs and the flat silver for forty-eight and the diamond that had been Queen Liliuokalani’s and the heavy linens embroidered on all the long golden afternoons that were no more.

How the haunting music of this cry of hope the words searching for encouragement stabbed at your heart. But this too of your creations made the days of incarceration more bearable. --from "Ka wa hauʻlea

We remember and in remembering there is happiness. Although dark times seeped in the hearts of all of you who lived those days of Commissioner Stevens and Captain Wiltse. --from "Ka wa hauʻle

Do not grieve good Queen in your place among the aumakua where maile and the mosses grow. Some of us are still here. We remember. We feel. We burn with the need to seek justice and rectification. We do not forget the terrible theft of our lands the destruction of our heritage the empty eyed look of our children, the rape of their understanding. Their hunger. You stand in the center of our fury. Your songs live on, heard everyday. We take courage from their words and tunes. Your love is a legacy to Hawaii's children. Onipaʻa is the cry. Onipaʻa You are a powerful symbol Too strong to die Too strong to kill the memory of theft You give us courage to continue to fight to regain what was ours. --from "Manawaʻino

Makaaina voices with fresh songs to sing Speaking of new strengths Mind and body strengths, Strengthening the hope of change -- new joys in this tiresome regimen of want and confusion. Grand queen sleep the ageless sleep in peace Your people rise now, and demand their share of this sweet and wondrous place. The populace from their sleep of compliance Awake now to the beat of new drums hewn from betrayal and delusion urging the makaaina voice to rise above the din of daily trumpetings of man and machine To be rid of confusion and fear To stand equally with the new rulers of this precious place to be ruthless in demanding what is ours. --from "Pono

Did you reflect on Cook's arrival and rue the day we were discovered and curse the coming of foreign sailors with bodies soaked in the blights of London sewers? Giving this cruel treasure to our unblemished women? Did you think of this and rage and want to kill? Did you remember all the insults down the years from French, British and American alike Did you remember the threat of their guns? I was not there during those dark days of anguish and confusion when the palace shook with intrigue and rumor that the greedy determined men downtown were plotting your ruin and demise of our nation. --from "Manawaʻino

Cruel and proud America give us back our pride, our dreams, our land. --from "Enaʻena

Cruel and proud America give us back our pride, our dreams, our land. Liliuokalani is long gone but we are here and you are here and the ghosts of Kepookalani, and Kamanawa. The great Paiea, our ageless king, will stalk you until the end and we will be there because Queen Liliuokalani is long gone but she is also here to haunt you and we are here witnesses to your greed, your stubborn clutching to what is ours. We are here and the ghosts of our makua watch you from the shadows of their island valleys and caves. From the mountain tops of Kaala and Maunakea Where old gods and the makua wait patiently. --from "Enaʻena

On mountain tops, in green valleys and all across the land We sing new songs, create sharper visions and we shout with pride give us back what is left of what was ours Our pride, our hopes. And what about our lands? They belong to us. Give them back. We sleep no longer in compliance. We have awakened with the beat of ancient pahu, the shark skin stretched tight, and move determined to a new rhythm, a new beat. Aloha aina, aloha aina, E Hawaii aloha e. --from "Pono