"Kings are absolute lords, and naturally have the full and free disposal of all goods possessed by churchmen as well as laymen, to use at any time as wise administrators, that is, according to the general need of their state. The prince alone must have sovereign command over everything in his kingdom. He must be the single spring from which all power is derived. Nothing should be done except with his express order. The authority of the great should be reduced to nothing. And those who imagine that they have power must quickly be convinced that they have only the power that has been given to them."

Louis XIV, Memoirs for the Instruction of the Dauphin, written c.1661-1668. Louis composed these memoirs as a guide to kingship for his son and heir. They were not published in his lifetime and were intended as a private royal tutorial.