Jerry Mulligan: Back home everyone said I didn't have any talent. They might be saying the same thing over here but it sounds better in French.
Adam Cook: I'm a concert pianist. That's a pretentious way of saying I'm... unemployed at the moment.
Jerry Mulligan: That's... quite a dress you almost have on.

Milo Roberts: Thanks.

Jerry Mulligan: What holds it up?

Milo Roberts: Modesty.
Adam Cook: It's not a pretty face, I grant you, but underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.
Henri Baurel: Be happy! You only find the right woman once.

Adam Cook: That many times?
Adam Cook: [Jerry, Henri Baurel and Adam are at the café, talking. Adam desperately tries to prevent the other two men from revealing to each other they love the same woman by distracting them] Did I ever tell you about the time I gave a command performance for Hitler?
Jerry Mulligan: Where is everybody?

Milo Roberts: Here.

Jerry Mulligan: Downstairs?

Milo Roberts: No, here in this room.

Jerry Mulligan: What about that extra girl?

Milo Roberts: That's me.
[first lines]

Jerry Mulligan: This is Paris, and I'm an American who lives here. My name: Jerry Mulligan, and I'm an ex G.I. In 1945, when the army told me to find my own job, I stayed on. And I'll tell you why: I'm a painter, and all my life that's all I've ever wanted to do.
Lise Bouvier: Paris has ways of making people forget.

Jerry Mulligan: Paris? No. Not this city. It's too real and too beautiful to ever let you forget anything.
[last lines]

Lise Bouvier: Jerry, don't let me leave you this way.
Jerry Mulligan: What gets me is, I don't know anything about her. We manage to be together for a few moments and then off she goes. Sometimes we have a wonderful time together and other times it's no fun at all. But I got to be with her.
Jerry Mulligan: Well, uh, with a binding like you've got, people are going to want to know what's in the book.
Lise Bouvier: Jerry, if it means anything to you, I love you.
Milo Roberts: [after watching Jerry dismiss a young woman looking at his work] Do you mind if I have a look, or will you chew my head off too?

Jerry Mulligan: No, you're all right.

Milo Roberts: Oh, thank you.

Jerry Mulligan: She's just one of those third year girls who gripe my liver.

Milo Roberts: Third year girls?

Jerry Mulligan: Yeah, you know, American college kids. They come over here to take their third year and lap up a little culture. They give me a swift pain.

Milo Roberts: Why? They're harmless enough.

Jerry Mulligan: They're officious and dull. They're always making profound observations they've overheard.
Jerry Mulligan: Hey, uh, how'd you come by all these worldly possessions? A rich husband or a rich father?

Milo Roberts: Father.
Henri Baurel: Then you have no problems!

Adam Cook: Where'd they go?
Jerry Mulligan: Civilization has a natural resistance to improving itself.
Jerry Mulligan: I came to Paris to study and to paint, because Utrillo did, and Lautrec did, and Roualt did. I loved what they created and I thought something would happen to me too. Well, it happened all right. Now, what have I got left? Paris. Maybe that's enough for some, but it isn't for me anymore, because the more beautiful everything is, the more it will hurt without you.
Milo Roberts: Why do you make such an issue of money?

Jerry Mulligan: Because I ain't got any. And when you ain't got any, it takes on a curious significance.
Jerry Mulligan: I never touch a guy unless I've known him at least fifteen minutes.
Jerry Mulligan: [Narrating] Brother, if you can't paint in Paris, you better give up and marry the boss's daughter.
Jerry Mulligan: Lise, I don't know whether you're a girl of mystery or just a still water that doesn't run deep, but there's one thing I can tell you. I'd been around sooner, you'd know by now that you're very pretty, and I'm not making fun with you.

An American in Paris Quotes

Extended Reading

An American in Paris short comments

Meredith 2022-02-07 14:45:34

Worthy of a classic, Vincent Minnelli has made a perfect fusion of ballet and musical. I am not really touched by this story, but the exploration of the form of the musical type film must give an excellent Evaluation! The silent dance by the water is a preview for the [Ponge Team], and the pianist's imagination is an evolution. Kim Kelly dances too sexy. Although the French girl Karen has excellent ballet skills, it is a pity that her beauty is not as good as the film text.
Coleman 2022-02-07 14:45:34

Although it is a musical, and it is also very exciting and gorgeous, the long musical performances that are not closely related to the plot are too overwhelming.