Archives des The Best Things Ever Said about France

A humorous WWI story – The Square Egg by Saki

The Square Egg by H.H. Munro (SAKI) Hector Hugh Munro, 1870–1916, better known by his pen name Saki, was a British-Scottish writer celebrated for his witty, mischievous, and often macabre short stories. It is unknown why he chose that pen name, but one theory links the name to the South American saki monkey, to go along with his mischievous, exotic character that comes through in his writing. He served as a private and Lance Serjeant in the British Army during World War I, ultimately losing his life on November 14, 1916, during the Battle of the Ancre (part of the Somme offensive). Munro was sheltering in a muddy shell crater near Beaumont-Hamel, France. According to accounts of his final moments, Munro chided a fellow soldier with the famous warning, "Put that bloody cigarette out!" fearing the smoke would draw enemy fire. The movement or sound attracted a German sniper, and Munro was killed by a single bullet to the head. His name is inscribed on the…

Being Yourself in France: Embracing Your Identity Abroad

Being Yourself in France: Embracing Your Identity Abroad and Jacques’s Garden Salsa Recipe Dear Friends, I hope this letter finds you all in good spirits, ready to embrace the colorful autumn season ahead. As someone who holds both French and American citizenship, I often think about what it truly means to be yourself—especially when you’re living across an ocean from where you began. After moving from the genteel American South to the rugged West, and eventually to France, I’ve become a hybrid of all three. Each place shaping me, overlapping new perspectives over roots that were never deeply planted—shaped by not knowing my grandparents very well (they all died when I was young) or my Dad’s extended family. And by moving across the entire country as a teenager. Such early experiences of change and movement! France is a country that values individuals (think René Descartes, Sartre, Gainsbourg, etc.), but is also steeped in tradition. At first, I fretted about blending i…

Paris Quotes (France, La Seine …)

Paris Quotes (France, La Seine too) To be Parisian is not to have been born in Paris, but to be reborn there. — Sacha Guitry ... here's what Paris is: it is a giant reference work, a city which you can consult like an encyclopaedia: whatever page you open gives you a complete list of information that is richer than that offered by any other city. Take the shops... in Paris there are cheese shops where hundreds of cheeses, all of them different, are displayed, each labelled with its own name, cheeses covered in ash, cheeses covered in walnuts: a kind of museum or Louvre of cheese... Above all this is a triumph of the spirit of classification and nomenclature. So if tomorrow I start writing about cheese, I can go out and consult Paris like an enormous cheese encyclopaedia. -- Italo Calvino in Hermit in Paris Two days and three endless nights later we arrived in Paris... Paris looked much bigger than Bordeaux, but much uglier. The bread tasted flat. Everything, even the sun…

Songs about Paris and France

Sooooo many songs have been written about Paris. By some counts there are more than 2800! And sooooo many songs about France. But we never tire of them and listen to them again and again. Below are a few of our favorites (feel free to send us yours and we'll add them to the collection). Yves Montand sums up the number of songs about Paris with his own:

Tant de poètes ont écrit Des couplets des refrains Sur Paris Que je n'sais plus quoi chanter Pour vanter ta beauté Mon Paris

Did you know there's a Website called My Chanson Française which has classic French song translations? It's a songbook where each page includes an introduction, a YouTube link, and a translation, along with notes clarifying difficult words or passages. You can listen to the YouTube music while scrolling the lyrics and translation below. The website is organized by artist or by song title to make it easy to look up favorites or discover something new. It's a grea…

Paris en Citations

Paris en Citations (La France, La Seine) Paris est tout petit pour ceux qui s'aiment d'un aussi grand amour. -- Jacques Prévert On ne peut aimer mieux qu'à Paris, il n'est pas meilleur endroit au monde pour attendre un être aimé qu'une place parisienne en fin d'après-midi, sous la pluie. -- Jacques Attali Sous les ponts de Paris, lorsque descend la nuit, Toutes sortes de gueux se faufilent en cachette Et sont heureux de trouver une couchette, Hôtel du courant d'air, où l'on ne paie pas cher, L'parfum et l'eau c'est pour rien mon marquis Sous les ponts de Paris. -- Lucienne Delyle Paris l'Athènes de l'Europe moderne. -- Francis Parkman J'aime Paris parce que l'on peut y être anonyme. -- Raymond Depardon Errer est humain. Flâner est parisien. -- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, 1862 J'étais à Paris, et le monde était devant moi. -- Will H. Low Douce France Cher pays de mon enfance Bercée de tendre insouciance Je t'ai gardée dans mon cœur! -- chanson de Charle…

Paris Haiku: Paris is poetry. Paris is a poem.

"Paris is poetry. Paris is a poem. I’m probably not the first person to write these sentiments. But, I might be the first to write: “Paris is a haiku!” Around every cobbled corner is an “Aha!” moment waiting to be captured. Open your “haiku eyes” (*) and come along with me on a journey through Paris and French culture, in haiku." Anna Eklund-Cheong is a haikuist and American expatriate living in Paris. Here is a selection of her haikus capturing fleeting moments of her (and your) favorite city.

from giant clock eyes

Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh

overlook the Seine

sewing together

the raw edges of the Seine

each stitch an arched bridge

squeeze into creaky rattan bistro chairs, and stay as long as you like …

L	M	M	J	V	S	D
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

		Book Room
		Paris Mosaïc
		Practical Paris
		Things FUSAC likes
		Culture vultures
		Made in France
		Get Out Of Town
		The French Language
		The Best Things ever Said about France
		People and Business Profiles