The Spirit of France

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted in 1798, states, "Freedom is the autonomy which all men possess to do all things without injury to others. There should be no limitations on this natural right except that the same right should be guaranteed to the rest of the community."

"Vivre libre ou mourir" (Freedom or Death) became an important motto of **** and the State.

Equality

Equality means that all people are considered equal, and that differences in birth and status are discarded in favor of considering only the contribution that each person makes to the funding of the nation.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1793 states that "all men are equal before the law".

In 1795, equality was defined as "the equality of all persons before the law, whether under the protection of the law or under its penalties". Equality recognizes differences of birth, and capacities not affected by heredity."

Fraternity

Fraternity is defined in the French Constitution of 1795 as the spirit of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Paul Thibaud, philosophy editor of the French magazine Esprit, said: "How much we regard liberty and equality as rights, and how much we are obliged to respect others with fraternity. Therefore, this is the maxim of morality."