# "L'Etat, c'est moi"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letat-cest-moi/134900>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [November 1, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letat-cest-moi/134900 "2002-11-01T22:02:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nemo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@nemo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nemo1)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letat-cest-moi/134900/1 "2002-11-01T22:02:32Z")

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

[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmaninmask.html](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?

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**Author:** ![beckisosmrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@beckisosmrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckisosmrt)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letat-cest-moi/134900/2 "2002-11-02T05:52:33Z")

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

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letat-cest-moi/134900/3 "2002-11-02T06:42:09Z")

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“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_

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**Author:** ![blandart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@blandart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blandart)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letat-cest-moi/134900/4 "2002-11-02T18:14:40Z")

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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:

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/letat-cest-moi/134900/5 "2002-11-02T20:07:00Z")

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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.