Quotation

A quotation or quote is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source, and it is indicated by (punctuated with) quotation marks.

A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any other form of expression, especially parts of artistic works: elements of a painting, scenes from a movie or sections from a musical composition.The rest of this article addresses only written or oral quotations.

Quotations are used for a variety of reasons: to illuminate the meaning or to support the arguments of the work in which it is being quoted, to provide direct information about the work being quoted (whether in order to discuss it, positively or negatively, to pay homage to the original work or author, to make the user of the quotation seem well-read, and/or to comply with copyright law. Quotations are also commonly printed as a means of inspiration and to invoke philosophical thoughts from the reader.

Example 1 :

Quoting from Prose

·         In No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy demonstrates his ability to describe complex physical actions clearly and vividly

He was slightly bent over when Chigurh squatted and scooted his manacled hands beneath him to the back of his knees. In the same motion he sat and rocked backwards and passed the chain under his feet and then stood instantly and effortlessly. If it looked like a thing he’d practiced many times it was. He dropped his cuffed hands over the deputy’s head and leaped into the air and slammed both knees against the back of the deputy’s neck and hauled back on the chain. (6)

·         Moll Flanders employs the psudoautobiographical narration typical of the picaresque tradition:

My true name is so well known in the records, or registers, at Newgate and in the Old Bailey, and there are some things of such consequence still depending there relating to my particular conduct, that it is not to be expected I should set my name or the account of my family to this work. . . .

It is enough to tell you, that . . . some of my worst comrades, who are out of the way of doing me harm . . . know me by the name of Moll Flanders. (Defoe 1)

Quoting from Poem

In his poem, "Mending Wall," Robert Frost writes: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall,/ that send the frozen-ground-swell under it" (42-44).

Quoting from Plays/ Drama

Even in the following rather simplistic scene between Tom and his mother Amanda, the difference in their personalities is clearly shown:

TOM. All right, I'll guess. You want to know when the gentleman caller's coming - he's coming tomorrow.

AMANDA. Tomorrow? Oh, no, I can't do anything about tomorrow. I can't do anything about tomorrow.

TOM. Why not?

AMANDA. That doesn't give me any time.

TOM. Time for what?

AMANDA. Time for preparations. Oh, you should have phoned me the minute you asked him - the minute he accepted.

TOM. You don't have to make any fuss.

AMANDA. Of course, I have to make a fuss!

TOM. Mother! This boy is no one to make a fuss over. 

(Williams 591)

This tells the reader that Williams is the author and the quote is from page 591.

Example 2 :

Quoting From Prose

In “Old Times on the Mississippi,” Mark Twain describes the river town he grew

up in:

After all these years I can picture that old time to myself

now, just as it was then: the white town drowsing in the sunshine of a

summer’s morning; the streets empty, or pretty nearly so; one or two

clerks sitting in front of the Water Street stores, with their splintbottomed

chairs tilted back against the wall; a sow and litter of pigs

loafing along the sidewalk; the great Mississippi, the majestic, the

magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile-wide tide along, shining in

the sun. (239).

His description is so clear we almost seem to be standing beside him,remembering.

Quoting From Poem

The speaker briefly indulges the childish fantasy of stealing the motorcycle and riding away.

This moment, however, is truly a "bridge" between childhood and adulthood. Rather than

daydream of freedom, he thinks about the situation and crosses over to responsibility.

The speaker chooses to look for

the owner, just coming to, where he had flipped

over the rail. He had blood on his hand, was pale --

I helped him walk to his machine. He ran his hand

over it, called me good man, roared away (l. 16-20).

Quoting From a Play/Drama

Willy's delusions consistently show how much Happy and Bernard idolized Biff, especially when they argue over who will carry his football gear:

BERNARD. Biff, I'm carrying your helmet, ain't I?

HAPPY. No, I'm carrying the helmet.

BERNARD. Oh, Biff, you promised me.

HAPPY. I'm carrying the helmet. (Miller 2.213-216)