Editing Encyclopedia:Manual of Style (section)

===Block quotations<span class="anchor" id="Block quotations"></span><span class="anchor" id="Block quotes"></span>===
{{Shortcut|MOS:BQ|MOS:BLOCKQUOTE}}

Format a long quote (more than about forty words or a few hundred characters, or consisting of more than one paragraph, regardless of length) as a [[block quotation]], indented on both sides. Block quotations should be enclosed in {{tlx|blockquote}}.

Do not enclose block quotations in quotation marks (and especially avoid large, decorative quotation marks; those provided by the {{tlx|cquote}} template have been disabled in mainspace). Block quotations using a colored background are also discouraged.

Use {{tnull|blockquote}} and so on only for actual quotations; [[#Indentation|indentation for other purposes]] is done differently.

It is conventional to precede a block quotation with an introductory sentence (or sentence fragment) and append the source citation to that line. Alternatively, the {{tnull|blockquote}} template provides parameters for attribution and citation which will appear below the quotation. {{crossref|pw=y|(For use of dashes with attributions, see {{section link||Other uses for em dashes}}.)}} This below-quotation attribution style is intended for famous quotations and is unusual in articles because it may strike an inappropriate tone. A quotation with no cited source should be flagged with {{tlx|quote without source}}, or deleted.

Line breaks and indentation inside a {{tnull|blockquote}} or {{tag|blockquote|o}} are generally ignored; use {{xtag|poem}} or {{tlx|poem quote}} for poetry, lyrics, and similar material:

<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext">
{{blockquote|<poem>
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
            Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
</poem>}}
</syntaxhighlight>
This gives:
{{xt|{{blockquote|<poem>
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
            Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
</poem>}}}}

Or quote such material inline, with line breaks indicated by <code><nowiki>{{nbsp}}/</nowiki></code>, and paragraph or stanza breaks by <code><nowiki>{{nbsp}}//</nowiki></code>.

{{Shortcut|MOS:PQ|MOS:PULLQUOTE}}
{{Anchor|Pull quotes|Pull quote|Pull quotations|nocquote|reason=The old name of Template:Pull_quote was Template:Cquote, and "nocquote" was historically used to refer to this MOS section, which now has its own shortcuts.}}
[[Pull quote]]s do not belong in Wikipedia articles. These are the [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not news|news and magazine style]] of "pulling" material already in the article to reuse it in attention-grabbing decorative quotations. This unencyclopedic approach is a form of [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch#Editorializing|editorializing]], produces [[Wikipedia:Writing better articles#Provide context for the reader|out-of-context]] and [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view#Due and undue weight|undue emphasis]], and may [[Wikipedia:No original research|lead the reader to conclusions]] not supported in the material.

Note that although this section does not provide a maximum limit of quotation length, extensive quotation of copyrighted text is prohibited. See: [[WP:COPYQUOTE]].