"All what we hope for is that a day will come, when we have all gone, when people will say that this man has tried, and his family tried. This is all there is to seek in this world"
About this Quote
The phrasing carries the weight of a lifelong balancing act. Hussein led Jordan through wars, coups, refugee waves, and the Cold War’s proxy pressures, often surviving by improvisation and compromise. “When we have all gone” isn’t just elegiac; it’s political realism. He’s admitting that power dissolves, alliances flip, and public memory is brutal. So he preemptively renegotiates the terms on which he’ll be judged: not by outcomes that depend on forces beyond any one leader’s control, but by moral seriousness under constraint.
The family mention is telling. It signals dynastic continuity, yes, but also a kind of shared accountability: leadership as an inherited burden rather than a personal triumph. The subtext is defensive and intimate at once. Hussein is asking future Jordanians, and the wider world, to read his reign not as perfection but as labor - a steady attempt to keep a small, vulnerable state intact.
“This is all there is to seek” is the quiet punchline: after the pageantry of state, the only durable currency is the evidence that you showed up and tried to do right.
Quote Details
| Topic | Legacy & Remembrance |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
I, King Hussein. (2026, January 16). All what we hope for is that a day will come, when we have all gone, when people will say that this man has tried, and his family tried. This is all there is to seek in this world. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/all-what-we-hope-for-is-that-a-day-will-come-when-104295/
Chicago Style
I, King Hussein. "All what we hope for is that a day will come, when we have all gone, when people will say that this man has tried, and his family tried. This is all there is to seek in this world." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/all-what-we-hope-for-is-that-a-day-will-come-when-104295/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"All what we hope for is that a day will come, when we have all gone, when people will say that this man has tried, and his family tried. This is all there is to seek in this world." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/all-what-we-hope-for-is-that-a-day-will-come-when-104295/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.













