"To make our way, we must have firm resolve, persistence, tenacity. We must gear ourselves to work hard all the way. We can never let up"
About this Quote
Resolve is doing the job after the applause dies. Bunche’s line reads like a pep talk, but it’s really a field manual from a diplomat who knew that history doesn’t pivot on grand speeches; it grinds forward on stamina.
The repetition is the point: “firm resolve, persistence, tenacity” stacks near-synonyms until willpower feels less like a mood and more like a practiced muscle. Bunche isn’t romanticizing struggle. He’s stripping progress of its glamour and replacing it with discipline. The blunt insistence of “must” turns motivation into obligation, a moral imperative rather than a personal preference. Then comes the most revealing phrase: “make our way.” Not “win,” not “arrive,” not “succeed” - just move through resistance. It implies blocked roads, contested terrain, slow passage.
The subtext is political: in Bunche’s world, the forces you’re up against are organized, patient, and well-funded. Whether mediating ceasefires or pushing for civil rights and decolonization in an era allergic to change, “never let up” is a warning about backlash and fatigue. The most dangerous moment in reform isn’t the first push; it’s the middle, when attention shifts and institutions reassert themselves.
Bunche’s intent, then, is less inspiration than inoculation. He’s preparing a coalition - activists, diplomats, citizens - for the unsexy truth that durable victories are usually administrative: meeting after meeting, compromise after compromise, pressure applied consistently until the world, begrudgingly, moves.
The repetition is the point: “firm resolve, persistence, tenacity” stacks near-synonyms until willpower feels less like a mood and more like a practiced muscle. Bunche isn’t romanticizing struggle. He’s stripping progress of its glamour and replacing it with discipline. The blunt insistence of “must” turns motivation into obligation, a moral imperative rather than a personal preference. Then comes the most revealing phrase: “make our way.” Not “win,” not “arrive,” not “succeed” - just move through resistance. It implies blocked roads, contested terrain, slow passage.
The subtext is political: in Bunche’s world, the forces you’re up against are organized, patient, and well-funded. Whether mediating ceasefires or pushing for civil rights and decolonization in an era allergic to change, “never let up” is a warning about backlash and fatigue. The most dangerous moment in reform isn’t the first push; it’s the middle, when attention shifts and institutions reassert themselves.
Bunche’s intent, then, is less inspiration than inoculation. He’s preparing a coalition - activists, diplomats, citizens - for the unsexy truth that durable victories are usually administrative: meeting after meeting, compromise after compromise, pressure applied consistently until the world, begrudgingly, moves.
Quote Details
| Topic | Perseverance |
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