But perhaps freedom would have been despicable to him just as for Giordano Bruno, necessity was of inferior worth to God, but freedom was of inferior worth to man, for freedom would have meant to the Brahman that some vital impulse of his was a matter of indifference. It may be immaterial whether the rabble do this or that; the man of highest nobility must have every moment fixed by a law, since each one is unconditional and equally important. Phenomena of this type are summarized in the principle of noblesse oblige.

DEFINE: Defines noblesse oblige as requiring a noble person to treat every moment as unconditionally fixed by law, in contrast to the rabble for whom actions may be indifferent.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 495