Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno is aLatin phrase that meansOne for all, all for one. It is the unofficialmotto ofSwitzerland, and the attitude is epitomized in the character of legendary Swiss heroArnold von Winkelried. A French version,Un pour tous, tous pour un, was made famous byAlexandre Dumas in the 1844 novelThe Three Musketeers.
In 1594,William Shakespeare uses it in his poemThe Rape of Lucrece to characterize people who take massive risks, including the poem's villainous rapist king,Tarquin the Proud:
Many of Shakespeare's contemporaries recognized him not only for plays likeHamlet andMacbeth, but poems likeLucrece andVenus and Adonis. Thus, his use of it could have contributed to more widespread usage, since these poems were commercial successes in his time.
In a meeting in 1618 between leaders of Bohemia's Catholic and Protestant communities, which resulted in thethird defenestration of Prague, a representative of the Protestants read a letter affirming, "As they also absolutely intended to proceed with the execution against us, we came to an unanimous agreement among ourselves that, regardless of any loss of life and limb, honor and property, we would stand firm, with all for one and one for all... nor would we be subservient, but rather we would loyally help and protect each other to the utmost, against all difficulties."[1]
Tous pour un, un pour tous (All for one, and one for all) is amotto traditionally associated with the titular heroes of the novelThe Three Musketeers written byAlexandre Dumas père, first published in 1844. In the novel, it was the motto of a group of Frenchmusketeers namedAthos,Porthos,Aramis andd'Artagnan who stayed loyal to each other through thick and thin.[2][3]
On November 30, 2002, in an elaborate but solemn procession, sixRepublican Guards carried the coffin of Dumas from its original interment site in the Cimetière deVillers-Cotterêts inAisne to thePanthéon. The coffin was draped in a blue velvet cloth inscribed with the motto.[4]
Switzerland has no official motto defined in its constitution or legislative documents.[5] The phrase, in its German (Einer für alle, alle für einen), French (Un pour tous, tous pour un), Italian (Uno per tutti, tutti per uno) andRomansh (In per tuts, tuts per in) versions, came into widespread use in the 19th century. After autumn storms had caused widespread floods in theSwiss Alps in late September and early October 1868, officials launched an aid campaign under that slogan,[6] deliberately using it to evoke a sense of duty and solidarity and national unity in the population of the young nation. Switzerland had become afederal state only 20 years earlier, and the last civil war among thecantons, theSonderbundskrieg, had been in 1847. Newspaper ads that used the motto to call for donations were run in all parts of the country.[7]
The phrase was increasingly associated with thefounding myths of Switzerland, which often also have solidarity as a central theme, to such a degree that"Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" was even written in the cupola of theFederal Palace of Switzerland in 1902.[8] It has since been considered the motto of the country. Politicians of all parties and regions acknowledge it as the motto of Switzerland.[9][10][11][12][13]
A part of the phrase in theRomanian language,Toți în unu ("All in One"), was briefly used as the motto of theUnited Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (a predecessor of modernRomania) between 1862 and 1866, when it was replaced byNihil sine Deo ("Nothing without God").[14]
The code of conduct for theCommunist Party of Soviet Union adopted in 1961 and known as theMoral Code of the Builder of Communism contains the phrase in its fifth point.[15]
The unrecognizedRepublic of South Maluku adopted a traditional phrase,Mena-Muria (sometimes translated as “all for one, one for all”) as its national motto.
Manga artistKōhei Horikoshi uses the two halves of the phrase within his seriesMy Hero Academia to represent two opposing superpowers (known in their respective universe as Quirks). 'One for All' referring to the power inherited by the series protagonistIzuku Midoriya, which is passed down from one wielder to the next stockpiling previous wielders quirks for the next one to act as a symbol of peace. 'All for One' referring to the power and main antagonist of the series who steals the powers of others for their own gain. Thus, literally, one power for all, and all powers for one.
InThe Truman Show, while Truman's father is being taken (at 15 minutes and 45 seconds), the arches above the road bear the full quote.
