''Noblesse oblige'' (; ; literally “nobility obliges”) is a
French expression from
a time when French (more specifically,
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to:
*Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066
* Anglo-Norman language
**Anglo-Norman literature
* Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...
) was the language of the
English nobility
The British nobility is made up of the peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks.
Peerages include: ...
, and retains in English the meaning that
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
extends beyond mere entitlement, requiring people who hold such status to fulfill
social responsibilities. For example, a primary obligation of a nobleman could include generosity towards those around him. As those who lived on the nobles' land had obligations to the nobility, the nobility had obligations to their people, including protection at the least.
According to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'', the term suggests "noble ancestry constrains to honourable behaviour; privilege entails responsibility." The ''
Dictionnaire de l'Académie française
The ''Dictionnaire de l'Académie française'' is the official dictionary of the French language.
The Académie française is France's official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language, although its recommendatio ...
'' defines it thus:
# Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly.
# (Figuratively) One must act in a fashion that conforms to one's position and privileges with which one has been born, bestowed and/or has earned.
''OED'' and others cite the source of the phrase as ''Maxims'' (1808) by
Pierre Marc Gaston de Lévis, Duke of Lévis
Pierre-Marc-Gaston de Lévis (7 March 1764, Paris – 15 February 1830), second duke of Lévis, peer of France, was a French politician, aphorist and député to the National Constituent Assembly. His father was the first duke of Lévis, m ...
.
Meaning and variants
''Noblesse oblige'' is generally used to imply that wealth,
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
, and prestige come with
responsibilities. In
ethical
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
discussion, the term is sometimes used to summarize a
moral economy
Moral economy refers to economic activities viewed through a moral, not just a material, lens. The definition of moral economy is constantly revisited depending on its usage in differing social, economic, ecological, and geographic situations and ...
wherein
privilege must be balanced by duty towards those who lack such privilege or who cannot perform such duty. Recently, it has been used to refer to public responsibilities of the rich, famous and powerful, notably to provide good examples of behaviour or exceed minimal standards of decency. It has also been used to describe a person taking the blame for something in order to solve an issue or save someone else.
History and examples
![Armes Mortsauf Comedie Humaine par Ida du Chasteleer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Armes_Mortsauf_Comedie_Humaine_par_Ida_du_Chasteleer.jpg)
An early instance of this concept in literature may be found in
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...
''. In Book XII, the hero
Sarpedon
Sarpedon (; grc, Σαρπηδών) is the name of several figures in Greek mythology
* Sarpedon, a son of Zeus, who fought on the side of Troy in the Trojan War. Although in the ''Iliad'', he was the son of Zeus and Laodamia, the daughter of Bell ...
delivers a speech in which he urges his comrade
Glaucus
In Greek mythology, Glaucus (; grc, Γλαῦκος, Glaûkos, glimmering) was a Greek prophetic sea-god, born mortal and turned immortal upon eating a magical herb. It was believed that he came to the rescue of sailors and fishermen in storms, ...
to fight with him in the front ranks of battle. In
Pope's translation, Sarpedon exhorts Glaucus thus:
'Tis ours, the dignity they give to grace
The first in valour, as the first in place;
That when with wondering eyes our confidential bands
Behold our deeds transcending our commands,
Such, they may cry, deserve the sovereign state,
Whom those that envy dare not imitate!
In ''
Le Lys dans la Vallée
''Le Lys dans la Vallée'' (English: ''The Lily of the Valley'') is an 1835 novel about love and society by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). It concerns the affection — emotionally vibrant but never consummated — ...
'', written in 1835 and published in 1836,
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
recommends certain standards of behaviour to a young man, concluding: "Everything I have just told you can be summarized by an old word: ''noblesse oblige''!" His advice included "others will respect you for detesting people who have done detestable things."
The phrase is carved into
Bertram Goodhue
Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (April 28, 1869 – April 23, 1924) was an American architect celebrated for his work in Gothic Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival design. He also designed notable typefaces, including Cheltenham and Merrymount for t ...
's
Los Angeles Public Library
The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the large ...
on a sculpture by
Lee Lawrie
Lee Oscar Lawrie (October 16, 1877 – January 23, 1963) was an American architectural sculptor and a key figure in the American art scene preceding World War II. Over his long career of more than 300 commissions Lawrie's style evolved through ...
as part of
Hartley Burr Alexander
Hartley Burr Alexander, PhD (1873–1939), was an American philosopher, writer, educator, scholar, poet, and iconographer.
Family and early years
Alexander was born in Syracuse, Nebraska, on April 9, 1873. His father, the Rev. George Sherman Alex ...
's iconographic scheme for the building.
Critique
Some critics have argued that ''noblesse oblige'', while imposing on the nobility a duty to behave nobly, gives the
aristocracy
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At t ...
a justification for their privilege. Jurists
Dias and
Hohfeld have pointed out that rights and duties are ''
jural corelatives'',
which means that if someone has a right, ''someone else'' owes them a duty. Dias's reasoning was used in ''
Murphy v Brentwood District Council
was a judicial decision of the House of Lords in relation to recovery for pure economic loss in tort.
The court overruled the decision ''Anns v Merton London Borough Council'' with respect to duty of care in English law.
Facts
A builder fa ...
'' (1991) to disapprove
Lord Denning
Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when ...
MR's judgment in ''
Dutton v Bognor Regis Urban District Council'' (1972).
See also
*
Chivalry
Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours we ...
*
Euergetism
Euergetism (or evergetism, from the Greek , "do good deeds") was the ancient practice of high-status and wealthy individuals in society distributing part of their wealth to the community. This practice was also part of the patron-client relatio ...
*
Honour
Honour (British English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of socia ...
* "
The Gospel of Wealth
"Wealth", more commonly known as "The Gospel of Wealth", is an article written by Andrew Carnegie in June of 1889 that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich. The article was published in the ''N ...
"
*
Liturgy (ancient Greece)
The liturgy ( el, λειτουργία or λῃτουργία, leitourgia, from λαός / Laos, "the people" and the root / ergon, "work" ) was in ancient Greece a public service established by the city-state whereby its richest members (wheth ...
*
Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven () is a Chinese political philosophy that was used in ancient and imperial China to legitimize the rule of the King or Emperor of China. According to this doctrine, heaven (天, ''Tian'') – which embodies the natural ...
*
National Honor Society
The National Honor Society (NHS) is a nationwide organization for high school students in the United States and outlying territories, which consists of many chapters in high schools. Selection is based on four criteria: scholarship (academic achi ...
(USA)
*
Paternalistic conservatism
Paternalistic conservatism is a strand of conservatism which reflects the belief that societies exist and develop organically and that members within them have obligations towards each other. There is particular emphasis on the paternalistic obli ...
*
The White Man's Burden
"The White Man's Burden" (1899), by Rudyard Kipling, is a poem about the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) that exhorts the United States to assume colonial control of the Filipino people and their country.Hitchens, Christopher. ''Bloo ...
*
With great power comes great responsibility
"With great power comes great responsibility" is an adage popularized by Spider-Man in Marvel Comics, Marvel List of Marvel Comics titles, comics, Spider-Man in film, films, and related media. Introduced by Stan Lee, it originally appeared as a ...
References
Notes
Sources
*
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
(1989). New York:
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
.
*
* ''
The Scarlet Pimpernel
''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...
'' (film, 1982). London Film Productions Limited. 2003 DVD ID#191LFDVD.
{{wikiquotes
Feudalism
French words and phrases
Mottos
Nobility
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