"Through the years you, the Delaware State family and your predecessors, have faced many challenges. You worked through them with fierce determination and good will, and you have made great progress"
About this Quote
"Delaware State family" is the tell. Calling a public institution a family is emotional shorthand that converts stakeholders into kin, making disagreement feel like disloyalty. It also signals a likely context: a commencement, anniversary, or ceremonial address at Delaware State University (a historically Black institution), where the audience includes alumni, administrators, and community leaders who have lived the reality behind that gentle word "challenges" - underfunding, political neglect, inequity. Castle doesn't litigate those causes; he rewards the response.
The pairing of "fierce determination" and "good will" is strategic balance. Determination nods to struggle and grit; good will reassures moderates and donors that the struggle remained respectable, nonthreatening, institution-building rather than disruptive. "You have made great progress" lands as both compliment and quiet pressure: progress becomes the metric, and the speaker positions himself as a witness - even an ally - without committing to any concrete policy. It's ceremonial rhetoric doing practical work: consolidating goodwill, borrowing the institution's moral capital, and leaving everyone feeling seen while the hard questions stay politely offstage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Overcoming Obstacles |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Castle, Michael N. (2026, January 16). Through the years you, the Delaware State family and your predecessors, have faced many challenges. You worked through them with fierce determination and good will, and you have made great progress. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/through-the-years-you-the-delaware-state-family-88408/
Chicago Style
Castle, Michael N. "Through the years you, the Delaware State family and your predecessors, have faced many challenges. You worked through them with fierce determination and good will, and you have made great progress." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/through-the-years-you-the-delaware-state-family-88408/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Through the years you, the Delaware State family and your predecessors, have faced many challenges. You worked through them with fierce determination and good will, and you have made great progress." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/through-the-years-you-the-delaware-state-family-88408/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
