"The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread"
About this Quote
The intent isn’t to argue that laws shouldn’t exist or that theft is virtuous; it’s to expose how “neutral” rules can be engineered to punish only one class while letting another glide through untouched. France’s list tightens the screw. Sleeping under bridges is homelessness; begging is desperation; stealing bread is hunger. Each is a survival act. By treating them as symmetrical crimes for rich and poor, the law reveals itself as less a moral arbiter than a mechanism for protecting property and public order from the visible consequences of poverty.
The subtext is a contempt for bourgeois self-congratulation: a society can congratulate itself on equal treatment while refusing to confront unequal conditions. France wrote in a Third Republic France that praised republican ideals while industrial capitalism, urban poverty, and labor unrest made those ideals look increasingly performative. The line anticipates a modern critique: rights on paper don’t matter much if material life decides who can actually exercise them. “Majestic” isn’t admiration here; it’s satire with teeth.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
France, Anatole. (2026, January 15). The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-poor-have-to-labour-in-the-face-of-the-32972/
Chicago Style
France, Anatole. "The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-poor-have-to-labour-in-the-face-of-the-32972/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The poor have to labour in the face of the majestic equality of the law, which forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-poor-have-to-labour-in-the-face-of-the-32972/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
