A Man's A Man for A' That


"A Man's a Man for A' That", also known as "Is There for Honest Poverty" or "For a' That and a' That", is a 1795 song by Robert Burns, written in Scots and English, famous for its expression of egalitarian ideas of society, which may be seen as expressing the ideas of republicanism that arose in the 18th century.
Scottish folksinger Sheena Wellington sang the song at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in May, 1999. Midge Ure did the same in July 2016. The song was also sung at the funeral of Donald Dewar, the inaugural First Minister of Scotland. It is also known in translations into other European languages, for example the German "Trotz alledem und alledem" by Ferdinand Freiligrath right after the Revolution of 1848.
The words "pride o' worth" appear on the crest of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Poem

Recordings

The line "The rank is but the guinea's stamp" is misquoted by Bertie Wooster in Indian Summer of an Uncle as "...the rank is but the penny stamp". He is corrected by Jeeves.