"He loved nobody except through policy, or rather he did not love at all. He was very vindictive, and carried his vindictiveness to extremes. He was difficult of access and of an extreme haughtiness and pride. He thought of nothing but what he chose, and gave no place to reason in his heart. He never opened a book or used his mind. He was born with very mediocre parts, without knowledge and without learning of any kind. He was without imagination or creative power of any sort. He was born good and just, but the gilded cage of his court and the flattery that surrounded him every day had fundamentally changed him. He came to regard the whole world as made for him alone."

Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon, Memoirs, written c.1694-1723, published posthumously 1788. Saint-Simon was a courtier at Versailles for many years who nursed deep grievances against Louis XIV for the treatment of the old aristocracy.