Beautiful French quotes, with translation, to hang on your wall

What is the most beautiful French quote about love?

"Il faut s'aimer, et puis il faut se le dire, et puis il faut se l'écrire." We must love each other, and then we must say it, and then we must write it. Victor Hugo wrote it in 1834, in a letter to the actress Juliette Drouet, at the start of a love that lasted fifty years and thousands of letters.

It is the most beautiful French love quote to hang because it doesn't describe love, it tells you what to do with it: three gestures, from the most private to the most lasting. Above a bed or in an entryway, it reads at a glance.

It is the quote people give for a wedding, an engagement or Valentine's Day, because it is already a declaration. It comes in 30x40 cm (12x16 in), the size for a dresser or a nightstand wall.

See Il faut s'aimer as a print

What does "Le vent se lève, il faut tenter de vivre" mean?

"The wind is rising!... we must try to live!" It opens the last stanza of Le Cimetière marin (The Graveyard by the Sea) by Paul Valéry, published in La Nouvelle Revue française in 1920. For twenty-three stanzas the poet stands still above the sea at Sète, thinking about death. Then the wind rises, and he chooses to move.

The key word is tenter, to try: nothing is promised, you try anyway. That is why it is given for a move abroad, a new job, a recovery, a new year. Hayao Miyazaki's film The Wind Rises opens on this very line.

It comes as two prints: the line alone, in large capitals on sage green stripes, readable from across the room, and the full stanza, set like a book page.

See the line as a print

See the stanza as a print

Which Victor Hugo quotes in French are worth framing?

Hugo is the most quoted French writer, and the most misquoted. Three lines whose source checks out, all from Les Contemplations (1856):

• "Chaque homme dans sa nuit s'en va vers sa lumière." Every man, in his night, makes his way toward his light. Book V, "Écrit en 1846".
• "Fais de ton amour ton flambeau. On s'éclaire de ce qui brûle." Make your love your torch: we find our light in what burns. Book II, "Il fait froid", a poem Hugo sent to Juliette Drouet on January 1, 1839.
• "Dieu n'avait fait que l'eau, mais l'homme a fait le vin." God made only water, but man made wine. Book I, "La Fête chez Thérèse".

And for a whole poem, Demain, dès l'aube (Tomorrow, at dawn) is the one the French know by heart.

See Chaque homme dans sa nuit as a print

Is there a French quote about wine for a kitchen?

"Dieu n'avait fait que l'eau, mais l'homme a fait le vin." God made only water, but man made wine. In La Fête chez Thérèse, Hugo gives the line to a guest who raises his glass and cries: "Gentlemen, man is divine." The poem is a garden party at nightfall, with masks and music.

It is the quote for the table: an open kitchen, a dining room, a bar cart, a wine cellar. It makes people smile without being a joke, and the signature changes everything. Its warm orange background lifts a white wall or light wood.

As a gift, it suits the wine lover, the couple with a new home, the friend who always hosts. 12x16 in for a kitchen, 20x28 in above a sideboard.

See the wine quote print

Which Baudelaire quotes in French should you choose?

Three lines from Les Fleurs du mal (1857), three moods:

• "Homme libre, toujours tu chériras la mer!" Free man, you will always cherish the sea. The first line of Man and the Sea: a beach house, a bathroom, someone setting off.
• "Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté, luxe, calme et volupté." There, all is order and beauty, luxury, calm and delight. The refrain of Invitation to the Voyage, the loveliest line about home.
• "Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir." Sounds and scents swirl in the evening air. Evening Harmony, for a reading nook.

The last two are set as the full poem: you recognize the line from afar and read the rest up close.

See Homme libre as a print

And a quote in English by a European writer?

"The soul needs more space than the body." The line is by Axel Munthe, the Swedish doctor who settled on Capri, in The Story of San Michele (1929), the book of his house. He describes a small house with few rooms, but with loggias, terraces and pergolas all around it to watch the sun, the sea and the clouds.

So it is a quote about home itself: the right one for a housewarming, a first apartment, a small place you love. It sits well next to a French quote, as a translation of the same idea.

See the Axel Munthe print

Where should you hang a quote print, and how high?

The rule: the center of the print at 57 to 60 inches from the floor, eye level. Above a sofa or a dresser, leave 6 to 10 inches between the furniture and the bottom of the frame.

Then it depends on reading distance:

• A short line in large capitals reads from ten feet away: living room, entryway, hallway, above a table.
• A full poem reads from three feet: bedroom, desk, reading nook, wherever you stop.

For size: 12x16 in on a dresser or in an entryway, 16x20 in above a desk, 20x28 in above a sofa or a bed. Aim for about two thirds of the width of the furniture below.

Choose my French quote print

How do you group several quote prints?

In threes, as a triptych, with three rules. One size for all three. The same gap between frames, 2 to 3 inches. And one color family: Valéry's sage green, the lilac of "Chaque homme dans sa nuit" and Munthe's peach stripes answer each other because they share the same softness.

Mix the tone of the lines: one about love, one about courage, one that smiles. The wall then reads like a page from a notebook. The three prints are printed together, on the same paper, and arrive in one parcel.

As a gift, it is the most generous form: our ideas for giving poetry at Christmas start there.

Build my French quote triptych

Il faut s'aimer, et puis il faut se le dire, et puis il faut se l'écrire. Victor Hugo, letter to Juliette Drouet, 1834

French quote wall art in one sentence

A beautiful French line, checked at its source, chosen for the room where it will be read, hung at eye level: de jolis mots sur de beaux papiers.