the magazine International Living ranked France as "best country to live in", ahead

According to a 2010 BBC poll based on 29,977 responses in 28 countries, France is globally seen as a positive influence in the world's affairs: 49% have a positive view of the country's influence, whereas 19% have a negative view.[343][344] The Nation Brand Index of 2008 suggested that France has the second best international reputation, only behind Germany.[345]
According to two Pew Research Center polls in 2006 and 2011 based on around 14 000 responses in 15 countries, French were found to have the highest level of religious tolerance (when asked about their opinion about Muslims, Christians and Jews) and to be the country where the highest proportion of the population defines its identity primarily in term of nationality and not of religion.[346] 69% of French have a favorable view of the U.S., making France one of the most pro-American countries in the world.[347]
In January 2010, the magazine International Living ranked France as "best country to live in", ahead of 193 other countries surveyed, for the fifth year running, according to a survey taking in account 9 criteria of quality of life: Cost of Living, Culture and Leisure, Economy, Environment, Freedom, Health, Infrastructure, Safety and Risk and Climate.[348][349]
France has historical strong ties with Human Rights.[350] Since the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, France is often nicknamed as "the country of Human Rights".[351] Furthermore, in 1948, a Frenchman, René Cassin, was one of the main redactors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the UN members in Paris.[350]
National symbols strongly reflect the heritage of the Revolution. The four official symbols of the Republic, as stated by the Constitution,[352] all commemorate events from the period. Bastille Day, the national holiday, commemorate the Fête de la Fédération, held on 14 July 1790 to celebrate the storming of the Bastille.[353] The origins of Tricolored flag also date back to the Revolution, as the cockade was the symbols adopted by the revolutionaries in 1789.[354]
As for the national anthem La Marseillaise, it was written in 1792 as a war song for the French Army.[355][356] The official motto of the French Republic, "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" (Liberty, equality, brotherhood) also appeared during the French Revolution.[357] Marianne, unofficial symbol, is an allegorical figure of liberty and of the Republic and also appeared at the time of the Revolution.[358]
A common and traditional symbol of the French people is the Gallic rooster. Its origins date back to Antiquity, since the Latin word Gallus meant both "rooster" and "inhabitant of Gaul". Then this figure gradually became the most widely shared representation of the French, used by French monarchs, then by the Revolution and under the successive republican regimes as representation of the national identity, used for some stamps and coins.[359] Although it is not an official symbol of the Republic, it is the most common image to symbolize France in the collective imagination and abroad