"L'Etat, c'est moi"

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

In Dex’s column on “the Man In The Iron Mask,”

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmaninmask.html

… he quotes Louis XIV as saying, “Je suis l’état!” (“I am the state!”). I have always understood that what he said was “L’Etat, c’est moi.” I’m too lazy to dig for source material, so does anyone else have good information on hand?

2

i’ve heard it both ways but they are basically the same thing so i dunno shrugs

3

“L ’ Etat c’est moi.” This from Oxford dicitonary of Quotations.

They not that it is probably "apocryphal; J. A. Dulaure Histoire de Paris 1834, v. 6

4

I have believed Louis Quatorze Never said "Je suis l’etat!"since college days in the forties. In fact I knew a history professor who gave a failing grade to a student who fell into the same translation blunder. Most of us thought that was a bit harsh, but we learned a valuable lesson about sloppy research! The lesson is imperfectly used by yours truly, as I am frquently guilty of substituting assumptionfor scholarship!:rolleyes:

5

I confess, I took it from one of the works I used for the research, that had translated it. Trying to describe the era, they said something like “Louis XIV identified himself with the state.” I was the one who got the French mis-remembered. I will have the report revised. Thanks.

Regardless of whether Louis actually said it, the quote has become a symbol of the divine right of kings.