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Now you know all there is to know. But it will be twenty years before you see.

— Mau Piailug An Ocean in Mind (1987)

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More quotes by Mau Piailug

You have to remember how the islands move. If you forget that, you're lost.

An Ocean in Mind (1987)

My grandfather Raangipi taught me the stars, but I didn't write it down like you are doing. I kept everything in my head. This is called paafu.

The Last Navigator (1987)

Your captain is your mother and father. He will tell you when to eat and when to sleep. Listen to him. Make happy. And we will all see the land we are going to.

An Ocean in Mind (1987)

My grandfather tell me not to hold the knowledge to myself; I have to pass it on. Before, some navigators in Micronesia, they never share the knowledge. But me, I share it to everybody, because I know maybe sometime we lose it.

The people in Micronesia, they not like before. Before, everybody, man and woman, they learn about the culture and navigation. But now, nobody like learn, because they use the GPS and the motorboat. But what you going to do when the GPS broke, or the engine broke? You just gonna follow the wind and the current away, and maybe die in the ocean.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Mau Piailug (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.