90 Quotes About France and Paris [+Photos] to Inspire You

Looking for a few quotes about France to get you inspired and excited?

In this article, I walk you through my personal compilation of the best quotes about France which will inspire you to start planning a trip to this beautiful country.

Ah…France.

There is simply no place like it. Whether you’re strolling down a small cobblestone street in Nice, sitting in a cafe in Avignon, or wandering around the streets of Paris, between the food, the wine, and the plethora of amazing cafes, a trip to France is always a good idea.

Whether you’re planning a trip to France or just want some inspiration and good vibes, keep reading to get some awesome travel inspiration.

If you like any of the images below, feel free to Pin them on Pinterest!

Best Quotes About France

Known as one of the most popular destinations in Europe, when I first started planning my around-the-world trip, I knew I had to spend a few weeks traveling around France. While most people make a beeline towards Paris, the rest of France, especially in the South is worth traveling to. Keep reading this section below where I share some of the best quotes about France.

1. “People wonder why so many writers come to live in Paris. I’ve been living ten years in Paris and the answer seems simple to me: because it’s the best place to pick ideas. Just like Italy, Spain.. or Iran are the best places to pick saffron. If you want to pick opium poppies you go to Burma or South-East Asia. And if you want to pick novel ideas, you go to Paris.” ― Roman Payne

2. “Every man has two countries: his own and France.” -John F. Kennedy

3. “Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amélie and Moulin Rouge.” –Stephanie Perkins

4. “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

5. “I had come to the conclusion that I must really be French, only no one had ever informed me of this fact. I loved the people, the food, the lay of the land, the civilized atmosphere, and the generous pace of life.” -Julia Child

6. “France is like a maddening, moody lover who inspires emotional highs and lows. One minute it fills you with a rush of passion, the next you’re full of fury, itching to smack the mouth of some sneering shopkeeper or smug civil servant. Yes, it’s a love-hate relationship.” –Sarah Turnbull

7. “We gasp at the beauty of the bridges over the Seine and always feel at home when we stop in the middle of one to gaze down at the cottony wake of the Bateaux Mouches. We love the mountain air that refreshes us in the Alps, and the nighttime clouds that eat the stars over the Breton coast. We love to slow down, and France requires us to do so. In France, we find what we are missing.” –Marcia DeSanctis

8. “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

9. “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

Quotes About Paris

Paris is one of those iconic cities known all over the world. The quaint cafes, the art, the culture, and of course, the many gastronomic restaurants, it is no wonder that millions of people flock here every year. If you’re looking for quotes about Paris to inspire you, look no further.

10. “A walk about Paris will provide lessons in history, beauty, and in the point of Life.” – Thomas Jefferson

11. “To know Paris is to know a great deal.” – Henry Miller

12. “Paris is the only city in the world that starving still considered art.” – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

13. “When good Americans die, they go to Paris.” -Oscar Wilde

14. “London is a riddle. Paris is an explanation.” – Gilbert Keith Chesterton

15. “You know, I sometimes think, how is anyone ever gonna come up with a book, or a painting, or a symphony, or a sculpture that can compete with a great city. You can’t. Because you look around and every street, every boulevard, is its own special art form and when you think that in the cold, violent, meaningless universe that Paris exists, these lights. I mean come on, there’s nothing happening on Jupiter or Neptune, but from way out in space you can see these lights, the cafés, people drinking and singing. For all we know, Paris is the hottest spot in the universe.” – Owen Wilson

16. “I’m not a complicated girl; she laughed, I just want to run away with you, rob a bank, fall in love and eat ice creams in Paris.” – Michael Faudet

17. “Oh, London is a man’s town, there’s power in the air;
And Paris is a woman’s town, with flowers in her hair;
And it’s sweet to dream in Venice, and it’s great to study Rome;
But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.” -Henry Van Dyke

18. “Whoever does not visit Paris regularly will never really be elegant.” -Honoré de Balzac

19. “Secrets travel fast in Paris.” -Napoleon Bonaparte

20. “Paris is always a good idea.” – Audrey Hepburn

21. “An artist has no home in Europe except in Paris.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

22. “To study in Paris is to be born in Paris!” — Victor Hugo

23. “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

24. “I should go to Paris and jump off of the Eiffel Tower. If I took the Concorde, I could be in my next life three hours earlier.” -Woody Allen

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

More Quotes About Paris

Ironically, Paris was actually one of those places which I did not like initially. During my first trip to Paris in 2015, I found it to be loud, slightly chaotic, and underwhelming. It was a huge disappointment for me as it was one of those places that I’ve been dreaming of visiting since I was a kid.

A few years later, I returned and had the most magical time. Instead of following the usual tourist traps, we had someone show us around the real Paris and it was then when I instantly fell in love! Keep reading to see some of the best Paris quotes that will make you fall in love with this beautiful city.

26. “America is my country and Paris is my hometown.” -Gertrude Stein

27. “But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight.” ― Ernest Hemingway

28. “I wish I could go to Paris right now.”― Emily J. Proctor

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

30. “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

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

Romantic Quotes About Paris

Known as the epicenter of many romantic novels and movies, Paris has become synonymous with love and romance. Year after year, tons of people flock to Paris to vacation, get engaged, or even get married. Trust me, there is nothing more romantic than walking along the River Seine while gazing at the many lit up monuments around you.

If you’re looking for romantic quotes about Paris, look no further as I’ve collected a list of the best quotes about Paris that will make you swoon and giddy!

32. “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 a last strand of daylight fading quietly, like a sigh.” -Kate Simon

33. “We’ll always have Paris.” – Howard Koch

34. “You can’t escape the past in Paris, and yet what’s so wonderful about it is that the past and present intermingle so intangibly that it doesn’t seem to burden.” — Allen Ginsberg

35. “Even the pigeons are dancing, kissing,
going in circles, mounting each other.
Paris is the city of love,
even for the birds.”
― Samantha Schutz

36. “I love the night passionately. I love it as I love my country, or my mistress, with an instinctive, deep, and unshakeable love. I love it with all my senses: I love to see it, I love to breathe it in, I love to open my ears to its silence, I love my whole body to be caressed by its blackness. Skylarks sing in the sunshine, the blue sky, the warm air, in the fresh morning light. The owl flies by night, a dark shadow passing through the darkness; he hoots his sinister, quivering hoot, as though he delights in the intoxicating black immensity of space. ” ― Guy de Maupassant

37. “Mine was the twilight and the morning. Mine was a world of rooftops and love songs.” ― Roman Payne

Quotes about the Eiffel Tower

Named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, this iconic landmark was created from 1887 to 1889 as the entrance to the 1889 World’s Fair. Towering at 81 floors, this popular landmark is one of the most visited paid monuments in the world. Every visit to Paris has since been synonymous with catching a glimpse of the magical Eiffel Tower, especially at night.

Here are a few famous quotes about the Eiffel Tower.

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

39. “The process of making an independent film is like building a mini Eiffel Tower with popsicle sticks – it doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s not easy.”- William Fichtner

40. “The Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower. They’re monumental. They’re straight out of Page 52 in your school history book.”- Billy Crystal

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

42. “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. In Egypt, the pyramids are right there. In the movies, every hotel has a monument right outside your window. My hotel rooms overlook the garbage dumpster in the back alley.” -Gilbert Gottfried

43. “You know this means that what we did-what we almost did in Paris…Going to the Eiffel Tower?”- Cassandra Clare

Paris Captions for Instagram

Every year, almost 30 million people visit Paris and it’s no surprise as it is one of those must-visit cities while in Europe. If you’re looking for short but sweet Instagram captions for Paris, here’s a collection of quotes and sayings that people have said about the popular City of Love.

44. “Paris, you have my heart.”

45. “All you need is a pretty tower and a passport.”

46. “Up in the clouds, on top of the Eiffel Tower.”

47. “When in Paris…”

48. “Casually checking major items off my bucket list.”

49. “Croissants, baguettes, and beautiful Eiffel Tower #views.”

50. “I’ve never met a major sight I didn’t like.”

51. “Peeking at the top of the Eiffel Tower.”

52. “Well, would you look at that view.”

53. “Greetings from the prettiest tower on the planet.”

54. “When in doubt, go to Paris.”

Paris Travel Quotes

As mentioned, a visit to Paris is a must whenever you find yourself in Europe. With tons of amazing things to do, there is no shortage of reasons why you need to plan a trip to Paris. Having been there multiple times since my first trip, the best travel tip I have is to simply get lost. Immerse yourself in the real Paris and spend hours on end wandering. I have no doubts that you will stumble on something so unique and special!

55. “There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even—the French air clears up the brain and does good—a world of good.” ― Vincent Van Gogh

56. “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

57. “I guess it goes to show that you just never know where life will take you. You search for answers. You wonder what it all means. You stumble, and you soar. And, if you’re lucky, you make it to Paris for a while.”― Amy Thomas

58. “Paris is a hard place to leave, even when it rains incessantly and one coughs continually from the dampness.”― Willa Cather

59. “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

Quotes about French Culture

The French culture is a very unique one. Centered around “living the good life”, what I love most about the French is their never-ending appreciation for good food and wine. Meals in France are an entire affair. Nothing is rushed and every bite is savored. In this section, I walk you through different quotes about France and their fascinating culture.

60. “France is the most civilized country in the world and doesn’t care who knows it” – John Gunther

61. “France is to me the heroine in the romance of all the nations of all time.” –William Arthur Sirmo

62. “The spectacle of this lovely nation, with its great agricultural wealth and its cultural riches, continually stepping on its own toes, made me wonder if France suffered a kind of national neurosis.” –Julia Child

63. “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

64. “Boy, those French. They have a different word for everything.”—Steve Martin

65. “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

66. “Every Frenchman wants to enjoy one or more privileges; that’s the way he shows his passion for equality.”—Charles de Gaulle

67. “Everyone remembers their first taste of Paris.” –Kristin Hannah

Quotes about French Food

French food has made waves in the culinary world for years, making it renowned. It is the building block of many culinary methods and styles which is also why it is so iconic.

If you’re looking for fun quotes about the delicious French food, this section is dedicated to just that! A lot of these quotes are mentioned by Julia Child, popular American cook who mastered French cuisine.

68. “How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?” – Charles de Gaulle

69. “The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken.”- Julia Child

70. “Once you understand the foundations of cooking – whatever kind you like, whether it’s French or Italian or Japanese – you really don’t need a cookbook anymore.”- Thomas Keller

71. “I still feel that French cooking is the most important in the world, one of the few that has rules. If you follow the rules, you can do pretty well.”- Julia Child

72. “I hate France. It’s like the whole country’s on a diet.” –Gordon Korman