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In French, "noblesse oblige" means, literally, "nobility obliges". Nobility is a traditional hereditary status (see hereditary titles) that exists today in many countries (mainly present or former monarchies). ...
Meaning and variants
"Noblesse oblige" is generally used to imply that with wealth, power, and prestige come social responsibilities. The phrase is sometimes used derisively, in the sense of condescending, patronising or hypocritical social responsibility. The term has also been applied more broadly to those who are capable of simple acts to help another, usually one who is less fortunate. Much of the recent sociological debate on power revolves around the issue of constraining and/or enabling nature of power. ...
Prestige means good reputation or high esteem. ...
In moral philosophy, the word responsibility has at least two related meanings: The obligation to answer for actions. ...
As an example, upon being commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants, young Marine Corps officers are issued a book called, "The Marine Officer’s Guide", authored by Ken Estes, where he states that, "As an officer, you demand a great deal of your men. But they in fact demand much more of you. If you let down one of your Marines, you are letting down the entire Corps. Noblesse oblige is the private motto of every officer of Marines.”
In ethical discussion, it is sometimes used to summarize a moral economy wherein privilege must be balanced by duty towards those who lack such privilege or who cannot perform such duty. Finally, it has been used recently primarily to refer to public responsibilities of the rich, famous, and powerful, notably to provide good examples of behaviour or to exceed minimal standards of decency.
History and examples The first recorded use of the phrase was in Honoré de Balzac's book "Le Lys dans la vallée", written in 1835 and published in 1836. It was also recorded in an 1837 letter from F. A. Kemble: “To be sure, if ‘noblesse oblige,’ royalty must do so still more.” Balzac redirects here. ...
| Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...
Year 1836 (MDCCCXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
Fanny Kemble as a young girl Frances Anne Kemble (Fanny Kemble) (1809 - 1893), the actress and author, was Charles Kembles elder daughter; she was born in London, and educated chiefly in France. ...
Members of the British Royal Family This article is about the monarchy-related concept. ...
The phrase is used as the motto for the National Honor Society. [1] Established in 1921, the National Honor Society (NHS) is recognition program for middle and high school students who show achievement in scholarship, leadership, service, and character. ...
William Faulkner uses the term many times in his novels and short stories, including the famous The Sound and the Fury and "A Rose for Emily." William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American novelist and poet whose works feature his native state of Mississippi. ...
The Sound and the Fury is a Southern Gothic novel written by American author William Faulkner, which makes use of the stream of consciousness narrative technique pioneered by European authors such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
In the book Athens on Trial, Jennifer Tolbert Roberts provides an example of noblesse oblige in the liturgies of ancient Athens — public burdens assigned to the wealthy such as outfitting warships, holding banquets and training choruses for dramatic performances. She notes, “The rich were understandably ambivalent about exercising this sort of ‘privilege’; noblesse oblige could be very expensive.” A liturgy is the customary public worship of a religious group, according to their particular traditions. ...
Athens (ancient Greek: αἱ Ἀθῆναι (plural), evolving into the modern αι Αθήναι in Greek until recently, and η Αθήνα nowadays (IPA : singular see below: Origin of the name ) is both the largest and the capital city of Greece, located in the Attica periphery. ...
"Indeed you can usually tell when the concepts of democracy and citizenship are weakening. There is an increase in the role of charity and in the worship of volunteerism. These represent the élite citizen's imitation of noblesse oblige; that is, of pretending to be aristocrats or oligarchs, as opposed to being citizens." — John Ralston Saul Image:Bigphotojonralstonsaulcc. ...
"Despotisms endure while they are benevolent, and aristocracies while noblesse oblige is not a phrase to be referred to with a cynical smile. Even an oligarchy might be permanent if the spirit of human kindness, which harmonises all things otherwise incompatible, is present." — George William Russell Bathers by Æ George William Russell (April 10, 1867 – July 17, 1935) who wrote under the pseudonym Æ, was an Irish nationalist, critic, poet, and painter. ...
A modern version of this can be found in the origins of the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man: "With great power comes great responsibility.", though Stan Lee has not claimed to have been aware of any one particular moral theory (such as noblesse oblige) when the phrase came to his mind originally. Marvel Comics is an American comic book line published by Marvel Publishing, Inc. ...
Spider-Man swinging around his hometown, New York City. ...
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber on December 28, 1921[1]) is an American writer, editor, was the Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Comics, and memoirist. ...
In the Disney movie Mary Poppins, Mr Banks sings a song titled "The Life I Lead" with the lyrics: "I treat my subjects | servants, children, wife | With a firm but gentle hand | Noblesse oblige!" Disney may refer to: The Walt Disney Company and its divisions, including Walt Disney Pictures. ...
Mary Poppins is a series of childrens books written by P. L. Travers and originally illustrated by Mary Shepard. ...
Historically, the concept finds its roots in nearly all of the major religions of the world. It frequently appears as a requirement to take care of those less fortunate by leaving small amounts of standing grain in the fields (Old Testament), ensuring everyone is treated equally in the distribution of joint possessions (New Testament), or giving a portion of your wealth to charity (Koran). It focuses on the voluntary redistribution of wealth in these cases. In other situations where power is an issue, it can be seen in the role of the knight to protect those who could not protect themselves, or in the Code of Hammurabi (the king imposing his obligation), c. 1780 BC, to provide recourse for all people before the law. Thus, the concept is very old, but the phraseology is relatively recent. Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh to refer to its canon, which corresponds to the Protestant Old Testament. ...
This article is about the Christian scriptures. ...
The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ...
An inscription of the Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi (also known as the Codex Hammurabi and Hammurabis Code), created ca. ...
See also Warrior code is an ethical code followed by warriors, often those that were privileged by birth, belonging to nobility or another privileged caste to preserve their honour. ...
The white mans burden - a satiric take This advertisement for soap uses the theme of the White Mans Burden, encouraging white people to teach cleanliness to members of other races The White Mans Burden is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling. ...
Sources Look up Noblesse oblige in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. - The official site of the National Honor Society
- The Oxford English Dictionary (1989). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Roberts, Jennifer Tolbert. Athens on Trial: The antidemocratic tradition in western thought. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994.
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