Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno!

Most of us know the motto Un pour tous, tous pour un! (All for one, and one for all!) traditionally associated with the titular heroes of the novel Les trois mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers). Written by Alexandre Dumas père, this novel was first published in 1844 and its famous characters, French musketeers Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d’Artagnan, promised to stay loyal to each other through thick and thin.

Did you know that this motto has also been the unofficial one of Switzerland since the 19th century?
After autumn storms had caused widespread floods in the Swiss Alps in late September and early October 1868, officials launched an aid campaign under the slogan “Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno”, deliberately using it to evoke a sense of duty, solidarity and national unity in the population of the young nation.

Switzerland had become a federal state only 20 years earlier, and the last civil war among the cantons, the Sonderbundskrieg, took place in 1847. Newspaper ads that used the motto to call for donations were run in all parts of the country. The phrase was increasingly associated with the founding 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 the Federal Palace of Switzerland in 1902. Politicians of all parties and regions acknowledge it as the motto of Switzerland.

C’est bon à savoir, non? As we say in Quebec, on se couchera moins niaiseux à soir! (We’ll go to bed a little less dumb tonight!)

La recette de grammaire : tout, toute, tous, toutes

Which one is correct?

“Tout les jours” or “tous les jours”? (every day)

Don’t worry if you don’t know which one to choose as most French learners struggle with this basic grammar rule.

Watch our “Recette de Grammaire de Marine” pour tout apprendre à propos de ”tout’!