100+ MLA Quote Citation Examples: Perfect Copywriting & Formatting Guide

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" (Dickens 5).

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" (Tolstoy 1).

"Call me Ishmael" (Melville 3).

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" (Austen 1).

"He was so terrible that I thought I should like to crawl under my chair" (Brontë 87).

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places" (Hemingway 105).

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me" (Brontë 234).

"We are all fools in love" (Austen 112).

"It is not down in any map; true places never are" (Melville 192).

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you" (Angelou 103).

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on" (Frost 76).

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment" (Whitman 45).

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by" (Frost 18–19).

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate" (Shakespeare 1–2).

"Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me –" (Dickinson 1–2).

"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons" (Eliot 52).

"Do not go gentle into that good night / Old age should burn and rave at close of day" (Thomas 1–2).

"Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul" (Dickinson 1–2).

"Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night" (Blake 1–2).

"I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o'er vales and hills" (Wordsworth 1–2).

"My love is like a red, red rose / That’s newly sprung in June" (Burns 1–2).

"I, being born a woman and distressed / By all the needs and notions of my kind" (Millay 1–2).

"Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you / As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend" (Donne 1–2).

"God’s Grandeur: / The world is charged with the grandeur of God" (Hopkins 1–2).

HAMLET: “To be, or not to be, that is the question” (Shakespeare 3.1.58).

MACBETH: “Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?” (Shakespeare 2.1.33–34).

LADY MACBETH: “Unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty” (Shakespeare 1.5.40–42).

KING LEAR: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child!” (Shakespeare 1.4.298–99).

OTHELLO: “I saw Othello’s visage in his mind, / And to his honors and his valiant parts” (Shakespeare 1.3.253–54).

PORTIA: “The quality of mercy is not strained” (Shakespeare 4.1.182).

Rosalind: “I would cure you of your love if you would but call me Rosalind” (Shakespeare 4.1.22).

VIOLA: “Make me a willow cabin at your gate” (Shakespeare 1.5.26).

POLONIUS: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” (Shakespeare 1.3.75).

QUEEN MAB: “She is the fairies’ midwife” (Shakespeare 1.4.54).

CLEOPATRA: “Give me my robe; put on my crown” (Shakespeare 5.2.286).

JAQUES: “All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players” (Shakespeare 2.7.139–40).

“Here's looking at you, kid” (Casablanca).

“I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse” (The Godfather).

“Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you're gonna get” (Forrest Gump).

“You can't handle the truth!” (A Few Good Men).

“I'll be back” (The Terminator).

“There's no place like home” (The Wizard of Oz).

“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” (The Godfather Part II).

“Why so serious?” (The Dark Knight).

“You had me at hello” (Jerry Maguire).

“Just keep swimming” (Finding Nemo).

“I am your father” (Star Wars: Episode V).

“I feel the need—the need for speed!” (Top Gun).

"Social media has reshaped how we communicate in just a decade" (Smith, 'Digital Shifts', para. 4).

"Remote work is no longer a perk—it's an expectation" (Lee, 'Future of Work', para. 7).

"Climate change impacts are accelerating faster than predicted" (Green, 'EcoWatch', para. 12).

"AI tools are transforming education, for better or worse" (Chen, 'EdTech Today', para. 3).

"Mental health awareness is rising, but access remains unequal" (Adams, 'Wellness Report', para. 9).

"The gig economy offers flexibility but lacks stability" (Jones, 'Labor Trends', para. 6).

"Streaming has replaced traditional TV for most under 30" (Taylor, 'Media Watch', para. 2).

"Cryptocurrency adoption is growing, but regulation lags behind" (Nguyen, 'FinTech Insights', para. 8).

"Urban green spaces improve well-being by 30%" (Clark, 'City Living', para. 5).

"Misinformation spreads six times faster than facts online" (Wu, 'Truth Matters', para. 1).

"Students learn better through active engagement than passive listening" (Kim, 'Teaching Today', para. 11).

"Digital minimalism is the new luxury" (Parker, 'Mindful Tech', para. 10).

When introducing a long quotation (more than four lines), indent the entire passage one inch from the left margin, without quotation marks:

It was December again. Snow fell softly over the city, blanketing rooftops and hushing streets. People hurried past, wrapped in coats and silence. There was a sense of waiting in the air, as though the year held its breath before ending. Time felt heavier now, burdened by memory and regret (Murakami 145).

For extended prose passages, maintain double-spacing and place the citation after the period:

She walked slowly through the garden, touching the petals of wilted roses. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the path. Nothing felt real anymore—not the warmth, not the scent, not even her own footsteps. Grief had turned the world translucent (Atwood 88).

Introduce block quotes with a colon and preserve original line breaks:

The train moved through darkness, its windows glowing like eyes. Inside, passengers stared at phones or slept with heads against glass. No one spoke. Even the child in the corner had stopped crying. Silence ruled, thick and unbroken (Otsuka 67).

Indent every line of the quote uniformly:

He remembered the war not in images but in smells: gasoline, mud, burnt hair. Sounds came later—the screams, the gunfire—but first, always, the stench. It clung to his clothes, his dreams, his skin (Remarque 112).

Preserve paragraph breaks within block quotes:

The letter arrived on Tuesday. She held it without opening it for nearly an hour.

When she finally read it, she laughed—a sharp, unexpected sound. Then she burned it in the sink, watching the words curl into ash (García Márquez 203).

Maintain consistency in font and spacing:

They sat in the car, engine off, rain tapping the roof. Neither wanted to speak. Words would only break the fragile peace they’d built in silence. So they waited, watching water slide down the windshield (Dubus 74).

Use ellipses sparingly in block quotes:

The forest was quiet. Too quiet. Birds had stopped singing. Even the wind seemed afraid to move. He stepped forward, gun raised, heart pounding in his ears… then nothing (King 156).

Avoid quotation marks unless quoting within the quote:

“We’re not leaving,” she said. And they didn’t. Not that night, not ever. The house became their fortress, their prison, their sanctuary (Tyler 91).

Always include author and page number after the closing punctuation:

Morning came gray and reluctant. Fog hung over the fields. Cows stood still, chewing. Somewhere, a dog barked once. That was all (Steinbeck 121).

Keep formatting clean and professional:

The clock struck midnight. No one noticed. Everyone was too busy pretending time didn’t matter. But it did. It always does (Eggers 189).

Ensure alignment matches the rest of your document:

She opened the door and saw the ocean. Not the sea she knew, but a vast, black expanse stretching beyond sight. Waves didn’t crash—they breathed. And somehow, she understood (Lessing 133).

Double-check indentation and spacing before submission:

He wrote her name in the sand. The tide came in. He wrote it again. And again. Until his fingers bled. Still, he wrote (Coelho 45).

“Creativity is not magic—it’s discipline disguised as inspiration” (Johnson, personal interview, May 12, 2023).

“We don’t adapt to change—we resist it until we have no choice” (Martinez, phone interview, April 3, 2023).

“Teaching isn’t about answers; it’s about questions students carry home” (Lewis, classroom interview, Feb. 14, 2023).

“My grandmother taught me that kindness costs nothing but means everything” (Nguyen, Zoom interview, Jan. 8, 2023).

“Success isn’t loud—it’s the quiet persistence no one sees” (Patel, email interview, Mar. 22, 2023).

“Every artist fears the blank page, even after a hundred masterpieces” (Rivera, studio interview, June 5, 2023).

“Leadership means listening more than speaking” (Thompson, panel discussion, July 10, 2023).

“Technology connects us, but loneliness grows louder” (Kim, podcast interview, Aug. 1, 2023).

“Failure taught me more than any award ever could” (Davis, public talk Q&A, Sept. 15, 2023).

“I write to understand myself, not to be understood” (Foster, literary festival, Oct. 20, 2023).

“Change starts when someone dares to say ‘this isn’t right’” (Bell, activist forum, Nov. 7, 2023).

“The future belongs to those who prepare without waiting” (Ortega, TED Talk backstage, Dec. 3, 2023).

"Just published my first poem online—scared, excited, alive" [@poetlife, Twitter, Apr. 5, 2023].

"Gratitude turns what we have into enough" [@mindfulmom, Instagram, Mar. 18, 2023].

"If you’re feeling lost, remember: storms pass, stars remain" [@soulguide, TikTok, Feb. 14, 2023, comment].

"Working from bed isn’t freedom—it’s blurred boundaries" [@digitaldetox, LinkedIn, Jan. 10, 2023].

"This book changed how I see grief—raw, honest, healing" [@readswithme, Goodreads, May 22, 2023].

"Small actions > perfect plans" [@changemaker, Twitter, June 30, 2023].

"My anxiety doesn’t define me, but it shapes my empathy" [@mentalhealthmatters, Instagram, July 4, 2023].

"Teachers need support, not slogans" [@educatorvoice, Facebook, Aug. 12, 2023].

"Nature doesn’t rush, yet everything blossoms" [@earthlover, Pinterest, Sept. 9, 2023].

"Being kind is a radical act in a cynical world" [@hopebuilder, TikTok, Oct. 31, 2023].

"I measure success by peace, not productivity" [@slowliving, Instagram, Nov. 17, 2023].

"Algorithms show us echoes, not truths" [@mediawise, Twitter, Dec. 25, 2023].

According to Brown, vulnerability is not weakness but the foundation of courage and connection (45).

Gladwell suggests that success often stems from hidden advantages and timing, not just talent (17).

Duhigg explains that habits form through cues, routines, and rewards, making them both automatic and changeable (28).

Pink argues that motivation thrives on autonomy, mastery, and purpose, not just rewards (89).

Kahneman describes two systems of thinking: fast, intuitive judgment and slow, logical analysis (21).

Sinek believes leaders inspire action by starting with 'why' rather than 'what' (54).

Dweck emphasizes that a growth mindset leads to greater resilience and achievement (12).

Ferriss advocates for focusing on few tasks done well instead of multitasking poorly (77).

Clear notes that small, consistent habits compound into significant long-term results (33).

Duarte explains that great presentations tell stories that engage emotion and logic (61).

Cuddy found that body language affects how others see us and how we see ourselves (88).

Ariely shows that human decisions are predictably irrational in specific ways (14).

"Cogito, ergo sum" [I think, therefore I am] (Descartes 127).

"Der Mensch ist das Maß aller Dinge" [Man is the measure of all things] (Protagoras 34).

"La vida es sueño" [Life is a dream] (Calderón 1).

"Che sarà, sarà" [Whatever will be, will be] (Antonio, qtd. in Hitchcock).

"Ich bin ein Berliner" (Kennedy, speech, 1963).

"Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero" [Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow] (Horace 1.11.8).

"Le style c’est l’homme même" [Style is the man himself] (Buffon, qtd. in Barthes 23).

"El silencio es oro" [Silence is golden] (Spanish proverb).

"Wissen ist Macht" [Knowledge is power] (Kant, qtd. in Foucault 45).

"Arigato gozaimasu" [Thank you very much] (Tanaka, personal communication, 2023).

"La esperanza es lo último que se pierde" [Hope is the last thing lost] (Spanish saying).

"Veni, vidi, vici" [I came, I saw, I conquered] (Caesar, qtd. in Plutarch 22).