Sibylle’s Favorite Quotes About Paris

Sibylle Eschapasse in Paris on July 31, 2016. (Marie-Edith Dugoujon)

Paris… or as they pronounce it in Paris: Paree! The city of lights and romance has inspired so many writers and artists over the years and continue to inspire so many. A place filled by history, a city-museum almost, with beautiful architecture at every corner and where Parisians seem to enjoy life to its fullest with a joie and art de vivre of their own. Paris is a symbol of fine dining characterized by its so many restaurants and cafés. A city of style and fashion and, of course, a city of love. Here are a few quotes to capture the essence and unique fun of Paris.

Paris is always a good idea.

— Actress Audrey Hepburn, in the movie 'Sabrina'

America is my country and Paris is my hometown.

— Gertrude Stein, novelist

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, founder of 'The Little Review'

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

— Founding Father Thomas Jefferson

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

— Charles Dickens, novelist

To know Paris is to know a great deal.

— Henry Miller, writer

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, poet

Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.

— Charles de Montesquieu, philosopher

Sibylle Eschapasse in Paris on July 31, 2016. (Marie-Edith Dugoujon)

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, journalist

It's midnight. One half of Paris is making love to the other half.

— Actress Greta Garbo in the movie 'Ninotchka'

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

— Samantha Schutz, writer

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

— Henry Miller, writer

Sibylle Eschapasse in Paris on July 31, 2016. (Marie-Edith Dugoujon)

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 Willem van Gogh, painter

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, writer

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, writer

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

— Honore de Balzac, novelist

To err is human. To loaf is Parisian.

— Victor Hugo, writer

I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.

— John F. Kennedy, American president

Ilsa: But what about us? Rick: We'll always have Paris.

— Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in the movie 'Casablanca'

Sibylle’s “Style Diary” is a column that explores style from the perspective of choices, and what that means for different people, with personal advice from some of the most stylish people in New York.

Sibylle Eschapasse is from Paris and now lives in Manhattan. She is a journalist and a contributing writer to various publications. Sibylle is also the author of a children’s book, “Argy Boy a New York Dog Tale.” She may be reached at [email protected]