How to use a quotation in a speech or essay

A good quotation can open a speech, close an essay or settle an argument. A wrong one, or a right one credited to the wrong person, does the opposite. This guide shows how to choose a quotation, where to put it, how to give the source, and how to make sure it is real.

Choose a quotation that does a job

Do not go looking for "a quote on success". Finish your own point first, then ask what the quotation will add. It should do one of three things:

Say your point better than you can. "Well done is better than well said" needs no explaining.
Lend authority. Lincoln on democracy, Bacon on reading, Gandhi on non-violence.
Surprise. A funny or unexpected line wakes an audience: Jerome K. Jerome on how much he likes work.

If the line does none of these, leave it out. Your own plain sentence is better than a famous name used as decoration.

Where to put it

Place	What it does	How to do it well
The opening	Catches attention and sets the theme	Say the line, pause, name the source, then say in one sentence why you chose it.
The middle	Supports one argument	Make your point first. Bring in the quotation as evidence. Then explain it.
The close	Leaves the audience with one line to remember	Lead up to it, say it slowly, and stop. Do not explain a closing quotation.

One or two quotations are enough for a five minute speech or a school essay. A piece of writing that is mostly other people's sentences shows that you can copy, not that you can think.

Never drop a quotation in without a frame

A quotation needs an introduction and a follow-up, like a guest who is introduced and then spoken to. Compare:

Weak: Hard work is important. "Great works are performed, not by strength, but perseverance." Better: Dr Johnson, who compiled an English dictionary almost by himself, knew what long labour meant. "Great works," he wrote, "are performed, not by strength, but perseverance." Our school's new library is such a work: it took four years of small efforts by many hands.

How to give the source

In a speech: the person and the work, said naturally. "As Portia says in The Merchant of Venice..." or "In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln spoke of..."
In a school essay: the person, and the work in brackets or after a comma. Follow the format your teacher has taught.
In a project or assignment: person, work and year, with the translator if the original was not in English.
On a card, poster or status: the name under the line, and the work if there is room.

Every quotation on this site carries its source, and the Copy button copies the source with the line.

Quote exactly

Use the author's words, spelling and punctuation. If you only remember the idea, say "Emerson wrote that..." and give it in your own words without quotation marks.
To leave out words in the middle, use three dots. Do not leave out words that change the meaning.
For poetry, keep the line breaks, or mark them with a slash.
Do not "improve" old English. "Thine", "doth" and "maketh" are part of the quotation.

Know who is speaking

In plays and novels, the words belong to a character. Polonius, who says "to thine own self be true", is a foolish old man. Lord Henry, who says the way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it, is the villain's tutor. Our pages on Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde name the speakers of the famous lines.

Make sure it is real

If a quotation comes with a famous name and nothing else, check it before you stand up with it. Search the exact words together with the name of a book or speech. If only quote websites and picture posts come up, be suspicious. Our page of famous quotes that were never said lists well-known false ones and gives a five step method for checking.

Translating for your audience

If you are speaking in Hindi or Punjabi and want to use an English quotation, say it once in English with the name, then give the meaning in your own words in your language. Do not present your translation as the author's exact words. The same holds the other way round for a Ghalib couplet in an English speech: recite it as written, then explain it.

Proverbs are different

A proverb has no author and needs no source. "As the saying goes" is all the introduction it needs. See English proverbs, Hindi kahavatein and Punjabi akhaan, each with meanings.

To find a line for a subject, go to quotes by topic.