Hawaiian proverbs — read closely

Parallel & Proverbs

A weekly literary miscellany

Including essays filed under Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi).

The Deep-Sea Fisherman

He lawaiʻa no ke kai hohonu, he loa ke aho

he lawaiʻa no ke kai hohonu, he loa ke aho

A Hawaiian fishing proverb measures your reach by the length of line you bring — and Mandarin, Russian, and English cousins set the same truth against danger, toil, and the climb.

Effort 1,165 wds 6 min

№ 03 Hawaiʻi

The Land Is Chief

He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka

he aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka

Why Hawaiians call the land a chief and the human its servant — and how Māori, West African, and Hebrew sayings invert the ownership of the ground from three other directions.

Humility 1,190 wds 6 min

№ 02 United States (Hawaiʻi)

In Speech There Is Life, In Speech There Is Death

I ka ʻōlelo nō ke ola, i ka ʻōlelo nō ka make

i ka ʻōlelo nō ke ola, i ka ʻōlelo nō ka make

A Hawaiian saying makes speech the literal seat of life and death — and reading it beside Hebrew, Arabic, and Māori shows how differently four oral worlds weighed the spoken word.

Speech Vs Action 1,158 wds 7 min

№ 01 United States (Hawaiʻi)

Not All Knowledge Is in One School

ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi.

ah-oh-heh pau ka ee-keh ee ka hah-lau ho-oh-ka-hee

A Hawaiian proverb refuses to let any one school own all knowledge. Confucius, an Akan baobab, and a Japanese saying about the shame of asking agree — but each finds a different reason to look elsewhere.

Humility 1,309 wds 7 min

Hawaiian proverbs, at a glance

The land outranks the people who live on it; they serve it, not the other way around.

He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka

Literally: The land is a chief, the human is a servant.

Hawaiian · Hawaiʻi

Set beside
- Māori — as people vanish, the land stays; permanence over a single life
- West African (Nigerian) — land owned by the dead, the living, and the unborn together
- Hebrew (Leviticus) — the land is God's; humans are tenants who may not sell it forever
Life is in speech; death is in speech.

I ka ʻōlelo nō ke ola, i ka ʻōlelo nō ka make

Literally: In the speech indeed the life, in the speech indeed the death

Hawaiian · United States (Hawaiʻi)

Set beside
- Hebrew (Proverbs 18:21) — almost the same sentence, but lodged in a scribal wisdom tradition: the tongue bears fruit you will eat
- Arabic — the death half only: the tongue as a blade that cuts deeper than steel
- Māori — the Polynesian sibling: a wooden spear can be parried, a spoken one cannot
No single source holds all wisdom — learn from many.

ʻAʻohe pau ka ʻike i ka hālau hoʻokahi.

ah-OH-heh pau ka EE-keh ee ka HAH-lau ho-oh-KA-hee

Literally: Not all knowledge is taught in one school.

Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) · United States (Hawaiʻi)

Set beside
- Mandarin (Confucius) — among any three on the road, one is your teacher; the lesson is humility
- Akan/Ewe — knowledge is a baobab tree no single pair of arms can embrace; the lesson is scale
- Japanese — to ask is a moment's shame, not to ask a lifetime's; the lesson is pride and its cost
You reach only as far as you have prepared yourself to reach.

He lawaiʻa no ke kai hohonu, he loa ke aho

Literally: A fisherman of the deep sea, long is his line.

Hawaiian · Hawaiʻi

Set beside
- Mandarin — no cubs without entering the den; the prize demands the danger
- Russian — you can't even pull a small fish from the pond without toil
- English (Fuller) — whoever wants the fruit must climb the tree