In his Olympic Memoirs, published at the age of 67, Coubertin returned to one of his favorite themes about sport—that it is good for everybody, that its benefits accrue to every individual who takes up the practice of sport.  Although he was born into the aristocracy, Coubertin embraced the values of France’s Third Republic as a young man—liberty, equality, fraternity—and worked for the common good and the working class throughout his life, pushing the idea that sport should have a rightful and prominent role in the development of any egalitarian society.

"For every man, woman and child, sport offers an opportunity for self-improvement quite independent of profession or position in life. It is the prerogative of all, equally and to the same degree, and nothing can replace it."