The combination of physical and mental energy with a profound sense of responsibility meant that Peter worked hard at the business of government, probably harder than any other monarch of the age. Peter faults were often glaring; but they were the faults of excess, of rashness, of haste and of too uncritical a self-confidence. They were seldom those of mediocrity, of indecision or of a shirking of responsibility. Some of his leading characteristics have already been briefly mentioned - his almost boundless physical energy, his insatiable practical curiosity, and the genuine sense of personal responsibility for Russia and its people which he felt at least from his middle or later twenties onwards. The indifference to appearances, to luxuries and even to ordinary comforts, which marked much of Peter's behaviour, can, however, be overstressed. Both Peter's faults and his good points were direct reflections of his deepest nature, undistorted by hypocrisy, calculation or artifice of any kind.