What did Louis XIV mean when he said I am the State?

Answer 1

The Absolute Monarchy by divine right..

Answer 2

The phrase "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the State") is frequently attributed to King Louis XIV, though this is more likely to have been conceived by political opponents as a way of confirming the stereotypical view of the absolutism he represented. Quite contrary to that apocryphal quote, Louis XIV is actually reported to have said on his death bed: "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours." ("I am going away, but the State will always remain").

Answer 3

This is a bit clearer to anyone outside the United States, where "state" is used in a way that's somewhat different than how it's used in most of the rest of the world. In most places, "state," "nation," and "country" are more or less synonyms.

What Louis means by saying "I am the state" is "I am the nation" ... that is, he's stating that he's the government of the nation. In France at the time, this was more or less true; Queen Elizabeth II couldn't truthfully say it, because she's really just a figurehead while the actual governing is done by Parliament, but Louis XIV actually was an absolute monarch.