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

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.

Reasons for using 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, or 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). Quotations are also commonly printed as a means of inspiration and to invoke .

Common quotation sources

Famous quotations are frequently collected in books that are sometimes called quotation dictionaries or treasuries. Of these, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, The Yale Book of Quotations and The MacMillan Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Famous Phrases are considered among the most reliable and comprehensive sources. Diaries and calendars often include quotations for entertainment or inspirational purposes, and small, dedicated sections in newspapers and weekly magazines — with recent quotations by leading personalities on current topics — have also become commonplace. Chiefly through the World Wide Web, the Internet has become the most commonly used quotation repository. Wikiquote is a Wikimedia project set up as a free collection of quotes on the Internet.

Misquotations

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 he is being dishonest. Some people are thought to have said certain things, but there is no evidence of these words in any of their surviving writings: in is the case, the words have merely been attributed to them. Many quotations are routinely incorrect or attributed to the wrong authors, and quotations from obscure writers are often attributed to far more famous writers by lax quoters. Good examples of this are Winston Churchill, to whom many political quotations of uncertain origin are attributed, and Oscar Wilde, who is believed to have said far more witty things than he possibly could have. Victor Borge is quoted all over the internet as having said, "A laugh is the shortest distance between two people." When Mark Baldwin, of The Borealis Press, called Mr. Borge to ask permission to use the quote on a Borealis Press Quote UnQuote greeting card, Borge said, "actually, I said 'a smile is the shortest distance between two people.' " Baldwin said that he had a photograph to use with the saying, and that "laugh" would work better; would it be all right to change "smile," to "laugh"? Victor Borge thought about it for a while and said, "No, I think 'smile' is what I really want to say, but it is all right if you say 'a laugh is the shortest distance between two people,' without attributing it to me." This is what The Borealis Press did, and since then the company has gotten many letters saying that the text with "laugh" should be attributed to Borge, because so many books and internet sites have it that way.