Leadership Quote by Charles Simmons

“Never go backward” lands like a command from the era when politics still sold itself as moral stamina. Charles Simmons isn’t offering comfort; he’s drawing a line in the dirt. The phrasing is blunt, almost martial, built to be remembered and repeated. “Never” shuts the door on hedging. “Backward” isn’t just retreat, it’s regression: the fear that doubt, compromise, or nostalgia will drag a community into smaller thinking.

The engine of the quote is its escalating rhythm. First, refusal (“Never go backward”). Then action (“Attempt”). Then total commitment (“with all your might”). By the time he arrives at “Determination is power,” the listener has been walked from mindset to behavior to identity. It’s politics as self-discipline: if you can keep people convinced that willpower equals strength, you can keep them moving through setbacks without questioning the project, the leadership, or the cost.

That’s the subtext: determination isn’t merely a personal virtue here; it’s a civic technology. In the early-to-mid 20th century, when politicians had to narrate wars, depressions, and rapid social change, “forward” language functioned as a stabilizer. It reassures constituents that history has a direction and that choosing the hard path is proof of righteousness.

The line also has a quiet hazard. “Never go backward” can be read as refusing reflection, apology, or course correction. In politics, that edge matters: it’s inspirational rhetoric that can harden into stubbornness, depending on who gets to define what counts as “backward.”