74 Picnic Quotes to Inspire You to Enjoy Life’s Pleasures (2024)

Picnics are often associated with summertime and warmer weather. Still, you can enjoy them at any time of the year in various locations such as parks, beaches, gardens, or even in the backyard. Read these 74 picnic quotes to learn more.

A picnic is an outdoor gathering or meal where people typically bring their food, drinks, and sometimes equipment like chairs or blankets to sit on. Depending on the participants and the setting, it can be a simple and casual event or a more elaborate and formal occasion.

In addition to food and drinks, picnics may involve activities such as playing games, listening to music, or simply socializing with others. Some popular picnic foods include sandwiches, salads, fruit, chips, frittatas, dips, and desserts like cookies or brownies.

To have a successful picnic, planning ahead and considering factors such as the weather, location, and number of attendees is essential. It's also important to clean up after the picnic and dispose of any waste properly to keep the area clean and enjoyable for others. Read these 74 picnic quotes if you are ready to enjoy the outdoors.

John Steinbeck's quote: "Nobody knows why you go to a picnic to be uncomfortable when it is so easy and pleasant to eat at home." | Image: AmoDays

Inspirational Picnic Quotes

"There are few things so pleasant as a picnic lunch eaten in perfect comfort." — W. Somerset Maugham

"My perfect day would be a picnic with my two best friends." — Kirsten Hill

"Nothing is better than a picnic." — Zooey Deschanel

"Picnics enable you to be outside, eat fun finger-food and enjoy that greatest of pastimes: People-watching." — Gregg Wallace

W. Somerset Maugham's quote: "There are few things so pleasant as a picnic lunch eaten in perfect comfort." | Image: AmoDays

"Among the delights of summer were picnics to the woods." — Georg Brandes

"A picnic is more than eating a meal; it is a pleasurable state of mind." — DeeDee Stovel

"There's something so intimate about a picnic with your guy. And as the temperature begins to rise, eating outside becomes refreshing and romantic." — Katie Lee

"Picnics are very dear to those who are in the first stage of the tender passion." — Arthur Conan Doyle

Georg Brandes' quote: "Among the delights of summer were picnics to the woods." | Image: AmoDays

"The things that make me happiest in the whole world are going on the occasional picnic, either with my children or with my partner; big family gatherings; and being able to go to the grocery store – if I can get those things in, I'm doing good." — Kate Winslet

"I'm not opposed to a fancy meal, but I'll take a picnic any day… food and nature? Sign me up." — Ryan Paevey

"I like to walk around Central Park and take in the vibe, have a picnic if the weather is good, and people-watch." — Samantha Barks

"Dinner and a movie, forget that. I'd rather have a picnic and a waterfall." — Amanda Grace

Arthur Conan Doyle's quote: "Picnics are very dear to those who are in the first stage of the tender passion." | Image: AmoDays

"A food truce, the picnic suspension of oedipal feeling that permits the generations to love each other at family reunions." — Karen Russell

"When I was growing up, kids would go outside and play all day and invent things. And my brothers and I pretended our picnic table was a ship one summer. Our bikes were horses, and our trees were forts. We turned everything in the world into make-believe." — Mary Pope Osborne

"I'm into all that sappy stuff – a surprise picnic, nice dinner, or traveling. I'm kind of an old romantic." — Will Estes

"I sit around listening to classical music. I don't play video games. I love to go to dinner, go on picnics, travel." — George A. Romero

DeeDee Stovel's quote: "A picnic is more than eating a meal; it is a pleasurable state of mind." | Image: AmoDays

Useful Picnic Quotes

"If the rain spoils our picnic but saves a farmer's crop, who are we to say it shouldn't rain?" — Tom Barrett

"'Never plan a picnic,' Father said. 'Plan a dinner, yes, or a house, or a budget, or an appointment with the dentist, but never, never plan a picnic.'" — Elizabeth Enright

"If you're going to enjoy the picnic that life really is, you'd better learn to like yourself not despite your flaws and so-called deficits, but because of them." — Paul Orfalea

"Things taste better outdoors. And if it's a forbidden thing, so much the better." — Franny Billingsley

Tom Barrett's quote: "If the rain spoils our picnic but saves a farmer's crop, who are we to say it shouldn't rain?" | Image: AmoDays

"People don't want to go to the dump and have a picnic. They want to go out to a beautiful place and enjoy their day. And so I think our job is to try to take the environment, take what the good Lord has given us, and expand upon it or enhance it, without destroying it." — Jack Nicklaus

"A night picnic. Night picnics are different." — "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

"Once abroad, I eat one meal a day picnic-style: I've learned that no mature stomach can tolerate an endless routine of rich restaurant meals." — Arthur Frommer

"A picnic may well be a metaphor for life. The essentials for happiness are the right company, moderate if sanguine expectations, and a reasonable standard of physical sustenance and comfort, the whole being bedeviled by the belief that there is always something better to be had if only one presses on." — P. D. James

Paul Orfalea's quote: "If you're going to enjoy the picnic that life really is, you'd better learn to like yourself not despite your flaws and so-called deficits, but because of them." | Image: AmoDays

"There's no depression that a great food enjoyed out in the fresh air cannot cure." — Kirsten Hill

"The only thing is quality of life; if you have a place where you can go and have a picnic with your family, it doesn't matter if it's a recession or not. You can include that in your quality of life." — Jim Fowler

Picnic Related Quotes

"Unless you are at a picnic, life is no picnic." — Jane Wagner

"We hope that, when the insects take over the world, they will remember with gratitude how we took them along on all our picnics." — Bill Vaughan

Kirsten Hill's quote: "There's no depression that a great food enjoyed out in the fresh air cannot cure." | Image: AmoDays

"I've liked lots of people 'til I went on a picnic jaunt with them." — Bess Truman

"Find yourself a cup of tea; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things. Saki Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors." — Alice Walker

"If life on Planet Earth was really supposed to be a picnic, we would all have been born clutching gingham tablecloths." — Jonathan Cainer

"Much of my music is inspired by what I heard at picnics and weddings and bar mitzvahs." — Neil Sedaka

Jonathan Cainer's quote: "If life on Planet Earth was really supposed to be a picnic, we would all have been born clutching gingham tablecloths." | Image: AmoDays

"There was something horribly depressing, she felt, about watching the weather report. That life could be planned like the perfect summer picnic drained it of spontaneity." — Galt Niederhoffer

"I adore war. It is like a big picnic but without the objectivelessness of a picnic. I have never been more well or more happy." — Julian Grenfell

"One man's panic funds another's picnic." ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

"I am a critic – as essential to the theatre as ants to a picnic." — Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Julian Grenfell's quote: "I adore war. It is like a big picnic but without the objectivelessness of a picnic. I have never been more well or more happy." | Image: AmoDays

"My definition of a perfect date: good food, the smell of grass and blue sky above." — Kirsten Hill

"If the wolf had ever come to our back door, he'd have had to bring a picnic lunch." — Bill Anderson

"I'm not a fan of BBQs. A sandwich and good company out in the woods is my definition of fun." — Kirsten Hill

"They remember when their parents went out there, had picnics on the Beck's Mill grounds. It was the nostalgia of it." — Larry Nelson

Kirsten Hill's quote: "My definition of a perfect date: good food, the smell of grass and blue sky above." | Image: AmoDays

"I'll affect you slowly as if you were having a picnic in a dream. There will be no ants. It won't rain." ― Richard Brautigan

"Refreshing failures roll off the travel easel like ants from a picnic blanket." — Sara Genn

"Life is neither a picnic nor a pain." — Lailah Gifty Akita

"I have grown up on a diet of sunrise picnics, learning the names of butterflies, planting trees." — Dia Mirza

Richard Brautigan's quote: "I'll affect you slowly as if you were having a picnic in a dream. There will be no ants. It won't rain." | Image: AmoDays

"Nature never quite goes along with us. She is somber at weddings, sunny at funerals, and she frowns on ninety-nine out of a hundred picnics." — Alexander Smith

"Love is like a picnic without ants, pleasant for a while, but sooner or later something's definitely getting squashed." — Frances Winkler

"I suppose I would still prefer to sit under a tree with a picnic basket rather than under a gas pump, but signs and comic strips are interesting as subject matter." — Roy Lichtenstein

"Everybody can close their eyes, picture a dream house or a perfect place [where] they'd like to have a picnic. But actually creating it – how do you create something from nothing? Anyone who's creative understands that that's the magic, that's the alchemy." — Billy Corgan

Frances Winkler's quote: "Love is like a picnic without ants, pleasant for a while, but sooner or later something's definitely getting squashed." | Image: AmoDays

"I can't get enough of London! I love all the picnic benches, the old-school phone booths, and parks in the middle of the city." — Jessica Lowndes

"I am never at picnics. The ground was not meant to be sat upon in its raw state, I feel sure, and I prefer my food without either caterpillars or drafts!" — Phyllis Bottome

"A beach date would be awesome, with like a little picnic basket, some fruit, and bread – just something really, really relaxed and laid-back. I like just relaxing all day, maybe playing in the water a little bit. It's just totally a day to chill." — Beth Phoenix

"My perfect day would be to go on a picnic up Mt. Wilson with Christopher Isherwood, Greta Garbo, Aldous Huxley, and Bertrand Russell." — Janet Fitch

Jessica Lowndes' quote: "I can't get enough of London! I love all the picnic benches, the old-school phone booths, and parks in the middle of the city." | Image: AmoDays

Don't miss

23 'Lost in Space' Quotes To Find Your Inner Sci-Fi FanaticJul 14, 2023

55 'You're the Worst' Quotes from FX’s Dark Comedy SeriesJul 25, 2023

50 Best Ron Swanson Quotes on Food, the Outdoors, and His ColleaguesJul 14, 2023

"You bring your own weather to the picnic." — Harlan Coben

"Spring is nature's way of saying 'let's party.'" — Robin Williams

"When life becomes an extended picnic, with nothing of importance to do, ideas of greatness become an irritant. Such is the nature of the Europe syndrome." — Charles A. Murray

"As a diabetic, I'm a walking picnic. I have to eat measured amounts of food at certain times." — Elaine Stritch

Harlan Coben's quote: "You bring your own weather to the picnic." | Image: AmoDays

"When I was 6, my mother put me on a picnic table in front of the whole family and told me to do my James Brown impression. I realized it was a great way of getting attention." — Eddie Griffin

"Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art." — Tom Stoppard

"He's a couple sandwiches short of a picnic." — Lance Bass

"Earth laughs in flowers." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The examined life is no picnic." — Robert Fulghum

Eddie Griffin's quote: "When I was 6, my mother put me on a picnic table in front of the whole family and told me to do my James Brown impression. I realized it was a great way of getting attention." | Image: AmoDays

"Did he annoy me? Yes, he was like a wasp at a picnic." — Gary Barlow

"Nobody knows why you go to a picnic to be uncomfortable when it is so easy and pleasant to eat at home." — John Steinbeck

Robert Fulghum's quote: "The examined life is no picnic." | Image: AmoDays

You can trace the history of picnics back to medieval Europe, where outdoor feasts were a common way to celebrate the end of the hunting season. However, the modern concept of picnicking began to take shape in the 18th century when the French started to popularize the idea of outdoor dining as a leisure activity.

Picnics were also popularized in the United States during the 19th century. During this time, the government created many parks and public spaces to accommodate picnickers. To honor the many dishes you can use during a picnic, let's look at these donut quotes for those with a sweet tooth.