# Quote — Patricia Grace, Potiki

> We could not afford books so we made our own. In this way we were able to find ourselves in book It is rare for us to find ourselves in books, but in our own books we were able to find and define our lives. But our main book was the wharenui which is itself a story, a history, a gallery, a study, a design structure and a conga. And we are part of that book along with family past and family yet to come. The land and the sea and the shores are a book too, and we found ourselves there. They were our science and our sustenance. And they are our own universe about which there are stories of great deeds and relationships and mage and imaginings, love and terror, heroes heroines, villas and fools. Enough for a lifetime of selling. (Roimata, ch23 p104)

- Author: [Patricia Grace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/patricia-grace.md)
- Book: [Potiki](https://www.leafyquotes.com/patricia-grace/potiki.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patricia_Grace#Potiki_(1986)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/patricia-grace/potiki/we-could-not

## More from this book

> She told of gifts that she'd been given, and how gifts once given cannot be taken away and do not change. Gifts did not change even though there could be a shifting in the self caused by pain. (The Stories, chapter 28 p174)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/patricia-grace/potiki/she-told-of-gifts.md)

> Everything we need is here, but for some years we had had little contact with other people as we struggled for our lives and our land. It was good now to know new people and to feel their strength. It was good to have new skills and new ideas, and to listen to all the new stories told by all the people who came. It was good to have others to tell our own stories to, and to have them there sharing our land and our lives. Good had followed what was not good, on the circle of our days. (Toko, chapter 21 p145)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/patricia-grace/potiki/everything-we-need.md)

> "People are strength too. Care for people and you are cared for, give strength to people and you are strong. It's land and people that are a person's self, and to give to the land and to give to the people is the best taonga of all. Giving is strength. We've always known it..." (The Stories, chapter 28 p176)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/patricia-grace/potiki/people-are-strength.md)