Colon Before a Quotation
When to introduce quoted material with a colon rather than a comma or nothing at all.
Three punctuation marks can introduce a quotation: a colon, a comma, or nothing. The colon is correct when the words before it form a complete sentence that announces the quotation, and when the quotation is formal, long, or being presented as a specimen.
Use a comma after a short speech tag ('She said, "I will not."'). Use nothing when the quotation is woven into your own syntax ('He called the plan "an expensive apology".'). Use a colon when a full independent clause sets the quotation up: 'Orwell states the rule plainly: "Never use a long word where a short one will do."'
Block quotations almost always take a colon, because they are announced rather than spoken into. A colon is also the standard introduction when the quotation is displayed after a phrase such as 'as follows' or 'in his words'.
Common mistake: a colon after an incomplete clause, as in 'The report says: that costs rose'. If the words before the colon cannot stand as a sentence, the colon is wrong — remove it or complete the clause.
“Orwell's final rule is blunt: "Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous."”
Keep reading the glossary
The three standard ways to join a lead-in to a quotation — comma, colon, or seamless integration — each carrying a different weight.
The introductory clause — 'as Orwell writes' — that flags a quotation and identifies its source in running prose.
A long quotation set off as its own indented paragraph, without quotation marks.
A short quotation set inside the writer's own sentence with quotation marks, rather than displayed as a separate block.