Quotation
- This article is about quoting. For information about the punctuation mark, see Quotation mark
A quotation is a fragment of a human expression that is being referred to by somebody else. Most often a quotation is taken from literature, but also sentences from a speech, dialogue from a movie and lines from song lyrics are also used. Aside from simply using words a quotation can also refer to any use of a piece of an artistic work in another place. This can include elements of a painting, scene from a movie and sections from a musical composition.
A typical, and perhaps ideal, quotation is usually short and commonly only one sentence long. There a two broad categories which most quotations fall into, beauty and truth although some quotations fit equally well into both these groups. Beautiful quotes are words remembered for their aesthetically pleasing use of language whereas many other quotes are remembered because they are thought to express some universal truth. These latter quotes are often called maxims or aphorisms and they are highly regarded for being pithy renderings of ideas that most people have but they have not been able to sum-up so well. A third type of quotation may be any line which merely reminds the person who quote it of a particularly memorable work.
Beauty:
- "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
- Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; "
- Ode To Autumn, John Keats
Truth:
- "Authority is never without hate."
- Ion, Euripides
Memorable:
- "Abandon all hope, whoever enters here."
- Inferno III, 9, Dante Alighieri - Inscribed above the gates of Hell
Quotation is used for a variety of reasons; to pay homage to the original work or author, to illuminate the meaning of the work it is being quoted in, to make the user of the quote seem well-read and even to ridicule the original author. Proverbs are anonymous quotes that have survived in oral form. They are usually an important part of a country's culture and are often significantly older then much of that country's other literature.
The art of quotation is fraught with difficulties. If the source of a quotation is not given it can lead readers to think that the author using the quotation originated the thought or that they are being dishonest. Some people are thought to have said certain things but there is no evidence of theses words in any of their surviving writings, when this is the case the words have to merely be attributed to them. Too much quotation can lead a reader to think the author does not have any original ideas. Many quotations are routinely incorrect or attributed to the wrong authors. Quotations from obscure writers are often attributed to far more famous writers by lax quoters. Good examples of this are Winston Churchill who gets many political quotes of uncertain origin given to him and Oscar Wilde who has said far more witty things then he has ever had the time for.
Deliberate misquotation is very common either through the fact that a misquotation is much better known then the original or simply because the misquotation fits the situation better. Possibly worse then misquotation is inappropriate where an author's words are taken out of context and are used to support a position or idea that they would have never agreed with. In case of extensive quoting from a work one needs to consider copyright. Famous quotations are frequently collected in books either for reference of the correct quote and author or to entertain and inspire the readers. To this end daily quotations are often included in diaries and on calendars.
A sister project of Wikimedia Foundation called Wikiquote was created on June 27, 2003 as a free online encyclopedia of quotations in every language. Sententiae is another free and open source project based on user-edited quotations in all languages.
There are many other quotation sites on the World Wide Web. Sadly, very few of them seem to care for accurate information and correct citation.
- "I hate quotation. Tell me what you know."
- Journals, Ralph Waldo Emerson
- "I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation."
- George Bernard Shaw, attributed
