Block Quote
A long quotation set off as its own indented paragraph, without quotation marks.
A block quote is a long quotation displayed as a separate, indented paragraph, set apart from the running text by white space and indentation rather than by quotation marks. The visual offset signals 'these are not my words' more powerfully than punctuation.
Style guides set length thresholds for when to block-quote: roughly four lines or forty words in MLA, forty words in APA, one hundred words or eight lines in Chicago.
Online, block quotes are usually rendered with a left border in addition to indentation — the HTML <blockquote> element, styled. The visual function is the same: 'pause here; somebody else is speaking.'
“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
Keep reading the glossary
A short, eye-catching quote lifted from an article and displayed in large type for emphasis.
A short quotation embedded directly in a sentence, inside quotation marks.
A passage repeated verbatim from a written or spoken source, with attribution.
Square brackets mark editorial changes inside a quotation — clarifications, edits, or [sic].