100+ Perfect Paris Quotes (Funny, Famous, Fabulous!)

Paris is known by many names – the City of Light, the City of Love, the fashion capital. 

It has inspired so many memorable, funny, inspirational, and famous Paris quotes. Everyone — from kings to literary giants, to comedians and pop culture — has sayings about Paris.

I’ve rounded up all of the best Paris quotes for you to share my love of this wonderful city!  (I’ve visited Paris over a half-dozen times and am already looking forward to my next trip!)

Some will make you chuckle some may make you wistful, but all of them will make you want to visit Paris!

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Best Quotes About Paris France

Famous quotes about Paris

Some of the most memorable quotes about Paris come from the silver screen – the movies Sabrina and Casablanca spawned two of the most famous Paris quotes.

Literary giants are well represented as authors of the most iconic Paris quotes, capturing the essence of the City of Light in a few strokes of the pen.

1. “We’ll always have Paris.” ~ Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca

2. “Paris is always a good idea.” ~ Audrey Hepburn, Sabrina

3. “When good Americans die, they go to Paris.” ~ Oscar Wilde

4. “There are only two places in the world where we can live happy: at home and in Paris.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

5. “Paris is a divine section of eternity.” ~ E. E. Cummings

6. “The chief danger about Paris is that it is such a strong stimulant.” ~ T. S. Eliot

7. “Paris is not a city; it’s a world.” ~ King Francis I

8. “A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of life.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

9. “Whoever does not visit Paris regularly will never be elegant.” ~ Honoré de Balzac

10. “Breathe Paris in. It nourishes the soul.” ~ Victor Hugo

Short quotes about Paris

There are many short-but-sweet quotes on Paris.  These are no less memorable for their brevity.  Plus, they make perfect Paris captions for Instagram! 

In my head, I can see each of these written on a coffee mug.  And I’d buy quite a few of them!

Upon review, it looks like most of these can be grouped into two main themes: ‘Paris is incredible’, and ‘let’s go to Paris now!’

15. “A bad day in Paris is still a good day anywhere else.” ~ Unknown

16. “But Paris after midnight… is magic.”  ~ Midnight in Paris

17. “London is a riddle. Paris is an explanation.” ~ G. K. Chesterson

18. “You stumble, and you soar. And, if you’re lucky, you make it to Paris for a while.” ~ Amy Howard

19. “Let’s go to Paris. Take me there and never look back.” ~ Lana Del Rey

20. “Paris exists to remind you that all your dreams are real.” ~ Audrey Hepburn, Sabrina

21. “Everyone dreams of living in Paris.” ~ Natalie Portman

22. “She wanted to die, but she also wanted to live in Paris.” ~ Gustave Flaubert

23. “An artist has no home in Europe except in Paris.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

24. “If you’re going to be sad, you might as well be sad in Paris.” ~ Gossip Girl

25. “When in doubt, go to Paris.” ~ Asia Argento (This is one of the best Paris quotes for Instagram!)

26. “To study in Paris is to be born in Paris!” ~ Victor Hugo

27. “Just add three letters to Paris, and you have paradise.” ~ Jules Renard

28. “Every girl needs Paris.” ~ Eve Chase, The Wildling Sisters

Nostalgic quotes about Paris

Paris holds a spot in my heart.  It’s one of the first European cities that I visited, and it made such an impression on me.

Paris is my absolute favorite travel destination (I just was there last month for my 8th trip — and counting!). On every visit, I discover something new.

I love Paris’ cobbled streets, the fantastic gardens, and the quintessentially French architecture.  And of course, the amazing Paris attractions.   

Even just walking along the banks of the Seine is amazing.  It should be boring, but instead it is magically infused with the romance that is Paris. (Plus, you can even refill your water bottle from one of the free Paris water fountains that you’ll find along the river’s banks.)

Clearly, I’m not the only one that Paris has affected in this way.  Here are some great quotes that show the spell that Paris puts us under – and how it keeps a hold on a piece of your heart.

Do you love everything about Paris? Me too! Read about my favorite things to do in Paris!

29. “Though you may leave Paris, Paris never really leaves you.”    ~ Janice Macleod

30. “There should be a name for the syndrome that occurs when you’re in Paris and you already miss it.”    ~ Rosecrans Baldwin

31. “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”    ~ Ernest Hemingway

32. “If you have ever walked in Paris, you will see that Paris will ever walk in your memories!”     ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

33. “Paris holds the key to your heart.”     ~ Anastasia

34. “Though I often looked for one, I finally had to admit that there could be no cure for Paris.”    ~ Paula McLain

35. “What you don’t know about Paris, is that when you live there, over time, an invisible thread forms around your heart, and so when you leave, it always tugs you back.”    ~ Robert Black

36. “Everyone remembers their first taste of Paris. This will be his.”     ~ Kristin Hannah

Love quotes about Paris

Paris, France is known as the City of Love.Part of that image is reinforced by all the movies that show the romance of Paris. 

But there’s a reason those movies were set in Paris in the first place! And it’s no surprise that there many memorable quotes about Paris and love!

To walk hand-in-hand along the Seine, to watch the nightly lights display shimmering on the Eiffel Tower – Paris brings out the romantic in everyone.

On our first visit to Paris, my husband surprised me by bringing along a lock in our luggage.  We added it to one of the ‘locks of love’ bridges. 

I think they’ve taken all of those down now and installed plastic shielding rather than the chain link.  But our little smiley-faced love lock lived in Paris for a while!

Paris is a city for lovers, and also a city to fall in love with. Here are my favorite Paris love quotes!

37. “Paris loves lovers.”    ~ Silk Stockings

38. “You’ll have to fall in love at least once in your life, or Paris has failed to rub off on you.”     ~ E.A. Bucchianeri

39. “There’s something about Paris, people just don’t have anything else to do there but love each other.”    ~ Louis Garrel

40. “Paris is unquestionably a city for lovers, and it has been a privilege and a delight to discover so many of its wonders by his side.”    ~ Mary Mcauliffe

41. “It’s true, you never forget your first love, and, for me, that will always be Paris.”    ~ Caitriona Balfe                          

42. “That was the moment I fell in love with Paris and the moment that I felt that Paris had fallen in love with me.”    ~ Paris, Je T’Aime

Quotes about the beauty of Paris

Paris, France is a beautiful city – it’s one of the many reasons Paris is worth visiting!  You’ve got the magnificent Paris monuments:  the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre-Dame, Sacre Coeur – the list goes on.

The gardens are stunning – the Jardin des Tuileries leads you from the Place de la Concorde to the Louvre.  Le Jardin du Luxembourg is one of my favorites since it feels more like a garden that Parisians actually use.

And best of all, you don’t even need to spend any money in Paris when you’re visiting these gorgeous public gardens!

And of course, don’t forget the spectacular gardens at the Palace of Versailles (one of the best day trips from Paris!).  These formal manicured gardens feature amazing water features and statuary – and are worth a trip even if you don’t want to see the Palace itself.

The beautiful architecture of Paris is another one of its signatures. 

The Haussmann architectural style is used throughout the city and is characterized by elegant buildings with stone facades and decorative wrought-iron details.  You’ll also recognize the particular gray Mansard roofs of this style.

And at night, Paris comes alive with illumination.  In addition to the twinkling lights on the Eiffel Tower, the bridges, churches, and monuments of Paris are illuminated. 

This makes Paris at night a magical place, completely different than the day.  Don’t cut your day short after dinner – go back out and create memories on an incredible night tour of Paris!

43. “I can never decide whether Paris is more beautiful by day or by night.”     ~ Midnight in Paris

44. “Paris is the most beautiful city in the world. It brings tears to your eyes.”    ~ Lee Radziwill

45. “Paris is so very beautiful that it satisfies something in you that is always hungry in America.”    ~ Ernest Hemingway

46. “I do not believe there is another city on earth so beautiful as Paris nor another people with such an appreciation of the beautiful as the French…”     ~ Edward Hopper

47. “That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me.”    ~ Marion Cotillard, Midnight in Paris

48. “A final reminder. Whenever you are in Paris at twilight in the early summer, return to the Seine and watch the evening sky close slowly on the last strand of daylight fading quietly, like a sigh.”    ~ Kate Simon

49. “Flowers never look so lovely as they do in Paris in the market there.”     ~ Agatha Christie

50. “I love Paris for the million reasons that everybody loves the city. It’s an incredibly romantic and beautiful place.”     ~ Alan Furst

51. “The shopping, the food, the views! Paris is a city that entrances us all—and I’m no exception.”    ~ Michael Kors

52. “When spring comes to Paris the humblest mortal alive must feel that he dwells in paradise.”     ~ Henry Miller

53. “I can never tire of speaking of the bridges of Paris. By day and by night have I paused on them to gaze at their views; the word not being too comprehensive for the crowds and groupings of objects that are visible from their arches.”    ~ James Fenimore Cooper

54. “The Seine. I have painted it all my life, at all hours of the day, at all times of the year, from Paris to the sea…Argenteuil, Poissy, Vétheuil, Giverny, Rouen, Le Havre.”     ~ Claude Monet

Quotes about Parisian life

The daily rhythms of life in Paris are just a little different, with every new day holding a promise. 

Whenever I visit Paris, I intentionally leave blank time in my schedule just to wander and explore the city.  You never know what hidden gem you’ll run across. 

One time it was a little Roman arena nestled within the city.  We had just picked up some cheese, a baguette, and some macarons from the market.  We enjoyed our picnic from the seats of the arena, watching some local kids playing soccer. 

Be open to the unexpected and accept the surprises and hidden gems that Paris will bestow upon on you!

55. “I know so much is going to happen here, but I just don’t know how. It feels like Paris is full of so many adventures just waiting to be had.”    ~ Rachel Kapelke-Dale

56. “Paris at dawn is one of those rare cities where you get the impression that something worthwhile could actually happen to you.”    ~ Pierre Assouline

57. “Paris is a city where time is best to spend doing nothing.”     ~ Erich Maria Remarque

58. “Paris is a world meant for the walker alone, for only the pace of strolling can take in all the rich (if muted) detail.”     ~ Edmund White

59. “Paris is a place where, for me, just walking down a street that I’ve never been down before is like going to a movie or something. Just wandering the city is entertainment.”    ~ Wes Anderson

60. “Paris. … There you can be whatever you want to be. Totally yourself.”    ~ Langston Hughes

61. “In Paris, everybody wants to be an actor; nobody is content to be a spectator.”     ~ Jean Cocteau

62. “In Paris, I really do like to try and do nothing… but that’s impossible.”     ~ Christian Louboutin

63. “Paris at night is a street show of a hundred moments you might have lived.”    ~ Courtney Maum

64. “In Paris, our lives are one masked ball.”     ~ Gaston Leroux

Funny quotes about Paris

Certainly, Paris has been the brunt of many jokes and humorous observations about the city and Parisian life.   It’s not perfect – nowhere is!

Here are my favorite funny quotes for Paris – I’m sure several will strike a chord with you.

I particularly like the David Nicholls quote referencing the ‘differentness’ of the fonts used in Paris.  This is so true! 

The fonts used for the Paris metro are immediately recognizable, as is that particular style of French cursive used on every chalkboard menu.

65. “To err is human. To loaf is Parisian.”    ~ Victor Hugo

66. “The objects of which Paris folks are fond– literature, art, medicine, and adultery.”    ~ Mark Twain (this is just one of many funny Mark Twain quotes!)

67. “Paris was all so… Parisian. I was captivated by the wonderful wrongness of it all – the unfamiliar fonts, the brand names in the supermarket, the dimensions of the bricks and paving stones. Children, really quite small children, speaking fluent French!”    ~ David Nicholls

68. “The first thing that strikes a visitor to Paris is a taxi.”    ~ Fred Allen

69. “I always wish the hotels were like they are in movies and TV shows, where if you’re in Paris, right outside your window is the Eiffel Tower.”      ~ Gilbert Gottfried

70. “It’s Paris. You don’t come here for the weather.”    ~ Adrian Leeds

71. “True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee. But why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don’t know.”     ~ P.J. O’Rourke

72. “It seemed that in Paris you could discuss classic literature or architecture or great music with everyone from the garbage collector to the mayor.”    ~ Julia Child

73. “It is a good thing to go to Paris for a few days if you have had a lot of trouble, and that is my advice to everyone except Parisians.”    ~ Muriel Spark

74. “For a painter, the Mecca of the world, for study, for inspiration and for a living is here on this star called Paris. Just look at it, no wonder so many artists have come here and called it home. Brother, if you can’t paint in Paris, you’d better give up and marry the boss’s daughter.”    ~ Alan Jay Lerner

75. “I’ve been lucky enough to win an Oscar, write a best-seller – my other dream would be to have a painting in the Louvre. The only way that’s going to happen is if I paint a dirty one on the wall of the gentlemen’s lavatory.”     ~ David Niven

Inspirational quotes about Paris

There is something special about the atmosphere of Paris.  It’s hard pin it down, but it definitely resonates.

The French have a different approach to experiencing and enjoying life.  Maybe it’s the appreciation of daily pleasures like a freshly baked croissant or a good glass of wine.  Or visiting the market daily to pick out the freshest local produce and buying based on what’s in season.

The city with its incredible contributions to history, architecture, and art is an inspiration.  As is the ‘je ne sais quoi’ essence of life in Paris.

Here are some inspirational Parisian quotes that capture this spirit much more eloquently than I ever could!

76. “He who contemplates the depths of Paris is seized with vertigo. Nothing is more fantastic. Nothing is more tragic.  Nothing is more sublime.”    ~ Victor Hugo

77. “La Vie en Rose. It is the French way of saying, ‘I am looking at the world through rose-coloured glasses.”    ~ Audrey Hepburn

78. “Paris is not a city, it is the image, the symbol of France, it’s today and yesterday, the reflection of its history, its geography and its hidden essence.”    ~ Nina Berberova

79. “I’d love to be a tabletop in Paris, where food is art and life combined in one, where people gather and talk for hours. I want lovers to meet over me. I’d want to be covered in drops of candle wax and breadcrumbs and rings from the bottom of wine glasses. I would never be lonely, and I would always serve a good purpose.”     ~ Maureen Johnson

80. “I have been in Paris for almost a week and I have not heard anyone say calories, or cholesterol, or even arterial plaque. The French do not season their food with regret.”    ~ Mary-Lou Weisman

81. “I think Paris smells, and not just sweet but melancholy and curious, sometimes sad but always enticing and seductive. She’s a city for all the senses, for artists and writers and musicians and dreamers, for fantasies, for long walks and wine and lovers and yes, for mysteries.”    ~ M.J. Rose

82. “The whole of Paris is a vast university of Art, Literature, and Music… it is worth anyone’s while to dally here for years. Paris is a seminar, a post-graduate course in everything.”    ~ James Thurber

83. “Paris… is loath to surrender itself to people who are in a hurry; it belongs to the dreams, to those capable of amusing themselves in its streets without regard to the time when urged business requires their presence elsewhere.”    ~ Julien Green

84. “Paris is the city in which one loves to live. Sometimes I think this is because it is the only city in the world where you can step out of a railway station—the Gare D’Orsay—and see, simultaneously, the chief enchantments: the Seine with its bridges and bookstalls, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde, the beginning of the Champs Elysees—nearly everything except the Luxembourg Gardens and the Palais Royal. But what other city offers as much as you leave a train?”    ~ Margaret Anderson

85. “The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older—intelligence and good manners.”    ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Paris quotes about the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre 

The Eiffel Tower is one of the most iconic structures in the world and is the most popular Paris location.  It was built for the 1889 World’s Fair and has dominated the Paris skyline ever since.

You can’t go to Paris and not visit the Eiffel Tower – whether you choose to gaze upon it from the Champ de Mars or the Trocadero, or whether you choose to ascend. 

You can take the elevator all the way to the top for incredible panoramic views of Paris.

The Louvre is the most famous museum in France and is actually the most visited museum in the world!  The modern glass pyramid is immediately recognizable as the symbol of this venerable institution.

You will of course want to visit the Louvre!   Just admit that there is no way to see ALL of the art and make a prioritized list for the art that most interests YOU.  That way you’ll maximize your visit.

86. “I ought to be jealous of the tower. She is more famous than I am.”     ~ Gustave Eiffel

(This is definitely one of my favorite quotes about the Eiffel Tower. It comes as a bit of a surprise that its creator had a great sense of humor!)

87. “I like The Eiffel Tower because it looks like steel and lace.”    ~ Natalie Lloyd

88. “Keep good company – that is, go to the Louvre.”     ~ Paul Cezanne

89. “France is beautiful. I stood at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower today and looked up at it. There are very few times in my life I’ve felt so small.”     ~ Leisa Rayven

90. “It took me twenty years to discover painting: twenty years looking at nature, and above all, going to the Louvre.”     ~ Pierre-Auguste Renoir

91. “You should definitely visit the Louvre, a world-famous art museum where you can view, at close range, the backs of thousands of other tourists trying to see the Mona Lisa.”     ~ Dave Barry (One of ‘funny because it’s true’ Louvre quotes.)

92. “Every time I look at the Eiffel Tower, it completely blows my mind.”     ~ Brian Fallon

93. “I refer of course to the soaring wonder of the age known as the Eiffel Tower.  Never in history has a structure been more technologically advanced, materially obsolescent, and gloriously pointless all at the same time.”     ~ Bill Bryson

94. “The Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower.  They’re monumental.  They’re straight out of Page 52 in your school history book.”     ~ Billy Crystal (This is one of my favorite Arc de Triomphe quotes.)

95. “The Louvre is the book in which we learn to read.”     ~ Paul Cezanne

96. “Don’t be carried off your feet by anything because it is modern – the latest thing. Go to the Louvre often and spend a good deal of time before the Rembrandts, the Delacroixs.”    ~ Sherwood Anderson

Quotes about Paris in French

French is the language of love.  Everything just sounds a bit more romantic when spoken in French!

I can speak French well enough to order a meal and buy train tickets, and well enough that (ooh la la) – they respond back to me.  In rapid-fire French, which washes over me in a mostly incomprehensible wave!

Here are a few of the most famous French quotes about Paris:

97. “Paris, je t’aime.” (Paris, I love you.)    ~ Unknown

98. “La vie, c’est Paris ! Paris, c’est la vie!”  (Life is Paris! Paris is life!)    ~ Marie Bashkirtseff

99. “Tout commence à Paris.” (Everything starts in Paris.)    ~ Nancy Spain

100. “Paris n’a pas été bâti en un jour.” (Paris wasn’t built in one day.)    ~ French proverb

And one in Italian:

101. “Solo Parigi è degna di Roma, solo Roma è degna di Parigi” (Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris)     ~ The motto of the exclusive sister cities of Paris and Rome