The New Zealand Wars - Episode 4, Taranaki Prophets

I shall not die. I shall not die. When death itself is dead, I shall be alive.

– Tītokowaru, in a letter for the colonists

The one thing virtually all kūpapa had in common was that they never obeyed the orders of their European officers unless it suited them … From the Kūpapa viewpoint, the government was fighting on their side rather than the other way around.

– James Belich describing Māori fighting on the side of the government

It is possible that the later New Zealand Wars conceal a forgotten revolution within Māoridom – a struggle between old and new, tribe and nation.

– James Belich on the divide between kūpapa and other Māori

To whom does England belong? To whom does this upon which you stand belong? This is my word to you – you were made a Pākehā, and England was given to you for your tribe. I was made a Māori and New Zealand was given to me. Move off from my place to your own.

– Tītokowaru in a letter to Colonel George Stoddart Whitmore

Until the 1980s, general histories of New Zealand did not so much as mention his name. It was as though he came too close to victory to be comfortably remembered. Instead, he was forgotten by Pākehā history as a child forgets a nightmare.

– James Belich talking about the forgotten histories of Tītokowaru