I Could Sooner Reconcile All

Up To This Moment I Have Been Pleased To Entrust The Government Of My Affairs To The Late Cardinal. It Is Now Time That I Govern Them Myself. You [secretaries And Ministers Of State] Will Assist Me With Your Counsels When I Ask For Them. I Request And Order You To Seal No Orders Except By My Command, . . . I Order You Not To Sign Anything, Not Even A Passport . . . Without My Command; To Render Account To Me Personally Each Day And To Favor No One.

Every Time I Fill A Vacant Office, I Make Ten Malcontents And One Ingrate.

Every Time I Appoint Someone To A Vacant Position, I Make A Hundred Unhappy And One Ungrateful.

The Last Argument Of Kings.

Heaven Deprives Me Of A Wife Who Never Caused Me Any Other Grief Than That Of Her Death.