Penser Et Vivre L'honneur

To receive a capital of honor by blood, to acquire it by merit and virtue, to defend it at the risk of one's life: under the Ancien Régime, no social sentiment was as deep-rooted and imperious as honor. François I's "tout est perdu, fors l'honneur" (all is lost, except honor) inaugurates the first century of modernity, and finds its extension in L'Esprit des lois, which makes honor the principle of monarchical government.