200 Paris Quotes | The Best Quotes about Paris and Paris Captions

From the almost ethereal yet architectural beauty of the Eiffel Tower, to the crusty delights of buttery croissants and languid saunters along the Seine, Paris has captured the hearts of millions, as the capital city of France entices you with it’s haunting appeal. It’s no surprise then that there are hundreds of enchanting Paris quotes, and a slew of great Paris captions for Instagram out there.

As two travellers beguiled by the charming City of Love, we just had to publish some of the best quotes about Paris, and curate them here, in this hefty guide. So, whether you’re using them for a simple Instagram caption, or because you want to wax lyrical about Paris in a short video, or even pen a postcard,  here’s more than 200 of the best Paris quotes for you!

Top 10 Quotes about Paris

Don’t feel like devouring this entire article full of Paris quotes? We would love a scroll but, in case you’re in a tearing hurry, we’ve gone ahead and selected ten of our favorite Paris quotes below:

A bad day in Paris is still better than a good day in anywhere else.

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

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

Paris was a universe whole and entire unto herself, hollowed and fashioned by history. Anne Rice

Secrets travel fast in Paris. Napoleon Bonaparte

To know Paris is to know a great deal. Henry Miller

We’ll always have Paris. Howard Koch

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

Whoever does not visit Paris regularly will never really be elegant. Honoré de Balzac

You never forget your first trip to Paris.

Best Paris Quotes

None of those top ten tickle your fancy? Well let’s delve head first into a whole host of other Parisian-inspired quotes, with some of our absolute favourites below:

Coming [to Paris] has been a wonderful experience, surprising in many respects, one of them being to find how much of an American I am. Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Good talkers are only found in Paris. Francois Villon

Had you but seen it, I promise you, your high-minded principles would have melted like candle wax. Never would you have wished such beauty away. Jennifer Donnelly, Revolution

I wish I could go to Paris right now. Emily J. Proctor

In Paris, our lives are one masked ball. Gaston Leroux

It’s Paris. You don’t come here for the weather. Adrian Leeds

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

Just add three letters to Paris, and you have paradise. Jules Renard

London is a riddle. Paris is an explanation. Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman. John Berger

The bewildering beauty of Paris… Allen Ginsberg

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

The Eiffel Tower was once thought impossible to build. Hector Jesus Arencibia

The Louvre is a good book to consult, but it must only be an intermediary. The real and immense study that must be taken up is the manifold picture of nature. Paul Cezanne

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

There’s a simplicity and a sense of adventure to being alone, and I sometimes envy you for having it, as you explore Paris. Even when you’re getting your heart broken, you can still wake up and not know what’s going to happen next. Jessica Pan

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

To be Parisian is not to have been born in Paris, but to be reborn. Sacha Guitry

To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them. Pierre-Auguste Renoir

What an immense impression Paris made upon me. It is the most extraordinary place in the world! Charles Dickens

You don’t go to Notre Dame to learn something; you go to Notre Dame to be somebody. Lou Holtz

Related: Heading to London? Here is a list of the perfect Quotes about London for your Instagram feed.

Best Paris Captions for Instagram

Wanting to pair your perfect Paris photo with a cracking Instagram caption? Look no further. As passionate Instagrammer’s ourselves, we’re always on the lookout for short captions for Instagram that will work well on the feed. Here are a few great IG captions about Paris you could use:

A dream: a well-fit flat in Paris overlooking the Eiffel Tower.

BRB, catching a flight to Paris.

Catching feels for this beautiful place.

Going in Seine over this city!

Got the world at my fingertips.

Here for the views and croissants.

Hey, Macaroon-a!

Holy crêpe this was amazing.

How can you complain in a place like Paris?

How could I baguette about Paris?

I couldn’t come to Paris without my French coat.

Keep calm and love Paris.

La vie est belle.

Let’s take a picture, it will last longer.

Looking forward to the memories of right now.

PARadISe found.

Paris is calling and I must go.

Ooh La La!

Paris, je t’aime.

Prepare yourself for a million photos. Sorry not sorry.

Take me back to Paris.

There is no cure for Paris.

This is my new happy place.

This view never gets old.

This view will do.

Up, up, and away into the clouds we go.

You had me at bonjour.

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Famous Paris Quotes

From acclaimed authors to poets, movie stars and a whole array of celebrities, Paris has had it’s fair share of famous faces visit, or live in the City of Love. And, they’ve all had a lot to say! With that in mind, we’ve collected some of the best Paris sayings from famous writers, actors and notable celebs, in this list below:

God has a plan for everybody’s life, so there was obviously a reason why He wanted me to go to Notre Dame. Everything happens for a reason. Justin Tuck

I like The Eiffel Tower because it looks like steel and lace. Natalie Lloyd

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

America is my country and Paris is my hometown. Gertrude Stein

An artist has no home in Europe except in Paris. Friedrich Nietzsche

I’ve seen you, beauty, and you belong to me now, whoever you are waiting for and if I never see you again, I thought. You belong to me and all Paris belongs to me and I belong to this notebook and this pencil. Ernest Hemingway

I’d sometimes go to Paris by myself – it was an easy two-hour train ride – to get a break from the everyday grind, to walk around a big city, ride a subway, feel the energy of a world capital. Chris Pavone

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

I’ve been fortunate to have been in Paris a dozen times, where I’ve gone to the Louvre. I’m very big on Impressionistic paintings. Shawn Crahan

If ‘Sex and the City’ taught us anything, it’s that Paris is the only city in the world that New Yorkers actually fantasize about. Elizabeth Bard

If you ask the great city, ‘Who is this person?’ she will answer, ‘He is my child’. Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

La Vie En Rose. It is the French way of saying, ‘I am looking at the world through rose-coloured glasses’. Audrey Hepburn

Let me be mad, then, by all means! mad with the madness of Absinthe, the wildest, most luxurious madness in the world! Vive la folie! Vive l’amour! Vive l’animalisme! Vive le Diable! Marie Corelli

Paris is a city that entrances us all.

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

She wanted to die, but she also wanted to live in Paris. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

Someday my paintings will be hanging in the Louvre. [Vincent Van Gogh]. Irvin Stone

That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me. Marion Cotillard

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

To study in Paris is to be born in Paris! Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

When good Americans die, they go to Paris,’ the ghost said, after taking a drag on a small cigarette. Karen Chance

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

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

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

Read next: Plan the perfect 2 days in Paris with our 2 day Paris itinerary and city guide.

City Quotes About Paris

The city itself is a joy to explore – from the bustling streets of Montmartre to shopping on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. One of the globe’s most recognisable hotspots, you might be scouring for a quote about the city of Paris? If so, check out the options we’ve curated below:

…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

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

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

Born and raised in Paris, I am deeply attached to my city; we almost have half a century of love story together, where I have been truly completely faithful! The most beautiful city in the world is my city, yeepeeee! Christian Louboutin

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

For in Paris, whenever God puts a pretty woman there (the streets), the Devil, in reply, immediately puts a fool to keep her. Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly

France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes. Mark Twain

I am going to enjoy life in Paris I know. It is so human and there is something noble in the city… It is a real city, old and fine and life plays in it for everybody to see. Katherine Mansfield

I am savage enough to prefer the woods, the wilds, and the independence of Monticello, to all the brilliant pleasures of this gay capital [Paris]. Thomas Jefferson

I lived in Paris for four years, so I am obsessed with pastries. Croissants, pain au chocolat, cakes, macarons, all of that! Barbara Fialho

I remember being a student, and I would go every Friday to the Louvre and stay for ages, just walking around. Jemima West

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

I went to the Louvre in Paris, and I saw all the paintings and the Mona Lisa. You don’t really see something like that every day. I was looking at it, and everything else in the room just shut out. Like, Leonardo Da Vinci painted this thing – this is unreal that he touched that. It had this crazy effect on me. Brian Fallon

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

It took me twenty years to discover painting: twenty years looking at nature, and above all, going to the Louvre. Pierre-Augustine Renoir

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

Paris is a place in which we can forget ourselves, reinvent, expunge the dead weight of our past. Michael Simkins

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

The old Paris is no more (the form of a city changes faster, alas! than a mortal’s heart). Charles Baudelaire

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

There are only two places in the world where we can live happy—at home and in Paris. Ernest Hemingway

There is an atmosphere of spiritual effort here. No other city is quite like it. I wake early, often at 5 o’clock, and start writing at once. James Joyce

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

Looking for the ultimate Paris photo to go with your Paris Quote? Then check out our guide to the most Instagrammable places in Paris.

Romantic Quotes for your Paris trip

It’s not called the City of Love for nothing. From sunset boat rides on the Seine to marriage proposals on Pont Neuf, Paris is definitely a place blooming with romance. Channel that loving feeling with one of these slightly syrupy romantic Paris quotes:

… 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, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

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

In a committed relationship with my passport.

It’s midnight. One half of Paris is making love to the other half. Melvyn Douglas

Le coup de foudre — love at first sight.

Le seul vrai langage au monde est un baiser — The only true language in the world is a kiss.

Let’s go to Paris/Take me there and never look back. Lana Del Rey

Made it to the city of love.

Meet you at the Eiffel Tower.

Paris is not just a city for lovers, but a city to fall in love with.

Paris is the destination for broken-hearted American women. I think men go there and have their hearts broken, but women come there with their hearts broken. Whit Stillman

The City of Love has my heart.

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

I think Paris smells not just sweet but melancholy and curious, sometimes sad but always enticing and seductive. She’s a city for the all 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

Short Paris Quotes

With so much to behold, sometimes you just can’t encapsulate the essence of Paris without a lengthy, lovely quote. But, equally, often you just want to say it in a single breath. Keep it short with one of these brief (but brilliant) quotes about Paris:

After Notre Dame, what is there? Ara Parseghisan

Breathe Paris in. It nourishes the soul. Victor Hugo

London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it. Dorothy Parker

Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half. Charles de Montesquieu

Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral. R.I. Stevenson

Mine was the twilight and the morning. Mine was a world of rooftops and love songs. Roman Payne

Paris is always a good idea. Audrey Hepburn

Paris is not a city, it’s a world. King Francois I

Paris is the greatest temple ever built to material joys and lust of the eyes. Henry James

Paris is the only city in the world where starving to death is still considered an art. Carlos Ruiz Zafon

They left me. My parents actually left me! IN FRANCE! Stephanie Perkins

Paris exists to remind you that your dreams are real.

Paris is a city of dreams.

Recommended: What made it on the list of most iconic landmarks in France?

Dreaming of Paris Quotes

Whether you’re visiting for the first time or are a Paris aficionado who is often found traipsing along the picturesque pavements, you’ll always still dream of Paris when you aren’t able to be there in the flesh. The stuff that dreams are made of, we’ve gone ahead and captured that feeling, with these great inspiring quotes about Paris:

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

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

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

Paris is a heaven for all woman’s obsessions: hot men, great chocolates, scrumptious pastries, sexy lingerie, cool clothes but, as any shoe-o-phile knows, this city is a hotbed of fabulous shoes. Kirsten Lobe, Paris Hangover

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. Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex

But Paris, Paris was a universe whole and entire unto herself, hollowed and fashioned by history; so she seemed in this age of Napoleon III with her towering buildings, her massive cathedrals, her grand boulevards and ancient winding medieval streets—as vast and indestructible as nature itself. All was embraced by her, by her volatile and enchanted populace thronging the galleries, the theaters, the cafes, giving birth over and over to genius and sanctity, philosophy and war, frivolity and the finest art; so it seemed that if all the world outside her were to sink into darkness, what was fine, what was beautiful, what was essential might there still come to its finest flower. Even the majestic trees that graced and sheltered her streets were attuned to her—and the waters of the Seine, contained and beautiful as they wound through her heart; so that the earth on that spot, so shaped by blood and consciousness, had ceased to be the earth and had become Paris. Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire

Paris is the only city where you can step out of a railway station —and see, 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—what other city offers as much as you leave a train? Margaret Anderson

At night I would climb the steps to the Sacre-Coeur, and I would watch Paris, that futile oasis, scintillating in the wilderness of space. I would weep, because it was so beautiful, and because it was so useless. Simone de Beauvoir

I had forgotten how gently time passes in Paris. As lively as the city is, there’s a stillness to it, a peace that lures you in. In Paris, with a glass of wine in your hand, you can just be. Kristin Hannah

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

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

Funny Paris Quotes and Captions

Paris is usually all about romance, gourmet cuisine and the finer cultural things in life. But, like every major hub, there’s also a lighter side to the French capital. Elicit a giggle with one of these more amusing Paris captions and quotes:

I like Frenchmen very much, because even when they insult you they do it so nicely. Josephine Baker

Eiffel hard for this city.

Eiffel in love with this city at first sight.

Enjoying life one crêpe at a time.

Excuse my French, but I’m in France.

Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a Notre Dame.

Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion. Norman Schwartzkopf

Cities have gender: London is a man, Paris is a woman, and New York City a well-adjusted transsexual. Angela Carter

I Musee, the French have great taste in art.

I think Eiffel for you.

I’m having a beret good time in Paris.

I’ve found Paris-dise.

In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language. Mark Twain

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

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

It would be humiliating if Eifel in Paris.

Not one, but Toulieries!

Pardon my French.

Paris is a very France-y city.

Paris is like a whore. From a distance she seems ravishing, you can’t wait until you have her in your arms. And five minutes later you feel empty, disgusted with yourself. You feel tricked. Henry Miller

Paris, I hope our paths croissant again.

Paris, I Lourve you.

Sometimes the French give me the crepes.

Sorry for what I said when I wasn’t eating a crêpe by the Eiffel Tower.

The food in Paris is Brie-ond belief!

The Louvre is a morgue; you go there to identify your friends. Jean Cocteau

The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee. Regis Philbin

When I’m in Paris, the world is my oyster.

Do you love Paris? I Pompidou.

Related: What should you pick up when Paris? Make sure you’re in the know before you go with a list of must-buy Paris souvenirs!

Long Quotes about Paris

Earlier we said it best with some simple, short quotes about Paris. But, of course, there are more comprehensive sayings about the city, many of which can be found in novels dedicated to espousing the beauty of the place. Here are a few of our favourite quotes about Paris that are a little longer in length:

After joyfully working each morning, I would leave off around midday to challenge myself to a footrace. Speeding along the sunny paths of the Jardin du Luxembourg, ideas would breed like aphids in my head—for creative invention is easy and sublime when air cycles quickly through the lungs and the body is busy at noble tasks. Roman Payne

Although the French were very friendly and helpful. On one location we were to film at the top of the Eiffel Tower but we couldn’t, as it was so misty with four inches of snow on the ground. We couldn’t see a thing but we finally got it done. Lalla Ward

I know my little ‘dirty drawings’ are never going to hang in the main salons of the Louvre, but it would be nice if – I would like to say ‘when,’ but I better say ‘if’ – our world learns to accept all the different ways of loving. Then maybe I could have a place in one of the smaller side rooms. Tom of Finland

It took me some years to clear my head of what Paris wanted me to admire about it, and to notice what I preferred instead. Not power-ridden monuments, but individual buildings which tell a quieter story: the artist’s studio, or the Belle Epoque house built by a forgotten financier for a just-remembered courtesan. Julian Barnes

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

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

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

The Eiffel Tower is nine hundred eighty-four feet high. On a clear day, you can see eighty-five miles from the top. It has three elevators. Each elevator can carry sixty-three people. It cost about one million dollars to build Eiffel Tower. Suzy Kline

Even More Quotes about Paris

You really couldn’t find a Paris quote to pair with your photo or update? Then you’re in luck! To close off this curated guide to the best Paris quotes, we’ve gone ahead and found even more little tidbits; sayings that are sure to perfectly outline what you’re trying to say about pretty Paris.

The Empire was on the point of turning Paris into the bawdy house of Europe. The gang of fortune-seekers who had succeeded in stealing a throne required a reign of adventures, shady transactions, sold consciences, bought women, and rampant drunkenness. Émile Zola, La Curée

The Louvre is the book in which we learn to read. We must not, however, be satisfied with retaining the beautiful formulas of our illustrious predecessors. Let us go forth to study beautiful nature, let us try to free our mids from them, let us strive to express ourselves according to our personal temperaments. Time and reflection, moreover, little by little modify our vision, and at last comprehension comes to us. Paul Cezanne

The Louvre! The Louvre has me in its clutches. Every time I’m there rich blessings rain down upon me. I am coming to understand Titian more and more and learning to love him. And then there is Botticelli’s sweet Madonna, with red roses behind her, standing against a blue-green sky. And Fiesole with his poignant little biblical stories, so simply told, often so glorious in their colors. Paula Modersohn-Becker

Unknown in Paris, I was lost in the great city, but the feeling of living there alone, taking care of myself without any aid, did not at all depress me. If sometimes I felt lonesome, my usual state of mind was one of calm and great moral satisfaction. Marie Curie

Walking at random through the streets, we came by chance upon the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I shall long remember my first impression of the scene within. The lofty gothic ceiling arched far above my head and through the stained windows the light came but dimly – it was all still, solemn and religious. Bayard Taylor

You show up in Paris, and on the drive from the airport to the hotel you’re like, ‘This is so cool! I want to see something! I want to go to the Eiffel Tower!’ And then you leave the next morning. You think, Oh, I didn’t get to do anything. I tell people: I’ve been just about everywhere, but I’ve seen nothing. Taylor Lautner

You’re going to have to settle on one eventually. Why not save us both the hassle, close your eyes and point. Whoever you’re pointing at will be our winner.” “I’ve played that game once before. Ended up–” Paris shuddered. “Never mind. It’s not good to wander down that particular memory trail. So no. Just no. Gena Showalter

You’ve finally made it to the end of this epic list of Paris captions and quotes – what did you think? Are we missing your absolute favourite Paris quote? Do let us know in the comments below – we are always trying to add to this ever-growing guide!

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