Jordanholic King Hussein of Jordan Quotes: Some nuggets of inspiration remembered.
King Hussein of Jordan Quotes
• Jordan has a strange, haunting beauty and a sense of timelessness. Dotted with the ruins of empires once great, it is the last resort of yesterday in the world of tomorrow. I love every inch of it.
• Jordan seeks to play only one role, that of a model state. It is our aim to set an example for our Arab brethren, not one that they need follow but one that will inspire them to seek a higher, happier destiny within their own borders.
• God willing, we shall come to a stage where the world looks at the Palestinian question, and Palestinian rights on Palestinian national soil, as well as the questions of the occupied Syrian and Lebanese territories. These are the bases on which peace will be built.
• I am totally against the idea that a Muslim woman should not have the same opportunities as a Muslim man to learn, to open up, to work, help shape the future. To close Islam down to a sexist approach is totally intolerable and ridiculous. It's not Islam.
• I believe with all my heart that if a man is to give of his best he must live the fundamental life of an ordinary man. One cannot hide behind a title or a position or a throne. One can be proud of one's responsibilities, just as I am, but one cannot use titles or position as a shield.
• I have said this in the past and I will continue to repeat it as long as I live: Whoever tries to hurt our national unity is my enemy until the day of judgment.
• I want to say a simple thing, that the dividing line exists not between Jordan and Israel, but between the proponents of peace and the opponents of peace.
• I will never work merely to make a reputation for myself, to be popular for appearances rather than for what I am. My task is to lead my country through service.
• In this life struggle, here I am among you fully cognizant that a true believer has no fear of what God has ordained for him. Those who are visited by fear live only for their present, under the illusion that the world began with them and will end with their departure.
• It would behoove the world to become used to this fact: that without a just solution to the Palestine tragedy, there can be no stable peace in the Middle East.
• Let me say this loud and clear. There is a world of difference between terrorist acts and the Islamic Shari'a. Islam is not only a religion, but a way of life. And at its heart lie the sacred principles of tolerance and dialogue.
• Let us always remember that our homeland needs people who would tackle its problems and concerns in a rational and realistic fashion as well as in a creative and balanced way, and not those who would take it to the level of dreams and unrealistic imagination in a world of illusions and sloganism.
• Our earth is ailing. In its own language, it tells us that we must act together in a sustained and coordinated effort to help it heal. It seems self-evident that we should initiate or expand domestic strategies that lead to coordinated regional and global efforts.
• We believe democracy to be the only real guarantor of stability and we have sought to create a 'Jordanian model' that might also inspire others in our region. I wish democracy and peace to be my legacy to my people and the shield of generations to come.
• Without peace and without the overwhelming majority of people that believe in peace defending it, working for it, believing in it, security can never really be a reality.
