100+ MLA Quote Citation Examples & Copywriting Tips for Perfect Formatting

“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).

“Call me Ishmael” (Melville 3).

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (Fitzgerald 180).

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

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” (Dickens 1).

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me” (Brontë 214).

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep” (Frost, *Stopping by Woods* 13-14).

“In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved” (Steinbeck 57).

“Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell 3).

“She would not say they were in love, but there was a quiet understanding between them” (Hurston 110).

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that” (King 23).

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind” (Churchill 12).

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” (Jefferson 7).

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Lincoln 6).

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” (Churchill, *Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat*).

“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country” (Kennedy 1).

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (Armstrong, *Apollo 11 Mission*).

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” (Henry, *Speech to the Virginia Convention*).

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation” (Lincoln 1).

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” (Churchill, *Battle of Britain Speech*).

“With malice toward none, with charity for all” (Lincoln 8).

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds” (Churchill, *We Shall Fight on the Beaches*).

“I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country” (Hale, *Last Words*).

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (Roosevelt 1).

“I think, therefore I am” (Descartes 25).

“To be is to be perceived” (Berkeley 42).

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself” (Sartre 23).

“God is dead” (Nietzsche 120).

“The unexamined life is not worth living” (Plato 38a).

“Everything that exists is good” (Leibniz 78).

“Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual” (Nietzsche 90).

“Existence precedes essence” (Sartre 27).

“Virtue is knowledge” (Socrates, *Meno* 97d).

“Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life” (Aristotle 10).

“Doubt is the origin of wisdom” (Augustine 33).

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” (Aristotle 35).

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts” (Churchill, *Speech Archive*).

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there” (Roosevelt 45).

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” (Eleanor Roosevelt 67).

“Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going” (Ali 22).

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” (Gretzky 12).

“It always seems impossible until it’s done” (Mandela 89).

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” (Wooden 33).

“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life” (Jobs, *Stanford Commencement*).

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today” (Roosevelt 50).

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” (Theodore Roosevelt 11).

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can” (Arthur Ashe 7).

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground” (Theodore Roosevelt 102).

“Imagination is more important than knowledge” (Einstein 45).

“We are made of star-stuff” (Sagan 120).

“Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge” (Sagan 23).

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” (Dobzhansky 40).

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious” (Einstein 67).

“We knew the world would not be the same” (Oppenheimer, *Trinity Test Reflection*).

“Data! Data! Data! I can’t make bricks without clay” (Doyle, *Sherlock Holmes* 104).

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it” (Nye 3).

“To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit” (Hawking 77).

“We stand on the shoulders of giants” (Newton, *Letter to Hooke*).

“The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you” (Neil deGrasse Tyson 15).

“Life finds a way” (Crichton, *Jurassic Park* 112).

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Acton 12).

“Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others” (Churchill 8).

“If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal” (Goldman, *Anarchism and Other Essays* 44).

“Politics is the art of the possible” (Bismarck 21).

“When the people are afraid of the government, there is tyranny. When the government is afraid of the people, there is liberty” (Jefferson 33).

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet” (Lincoln 5).

“All tyranny needs is for good men to do nothing” (Edmund Burke 19).

“In politics, absurdity is not a handicap” (Napoleon 7).

“A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Lincoln 4).

“The greatest danger to our freedom is the concentration of power” (Ronald Reagan 22).

“Workers of the world, unite!” (Marx and Engels 87).

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 41).

“Here's looking at you, kid” (*Casablanca* 1:23:10).

“May the Force be with you” (*Star Wars: A New Hope* 0:58:32).

“I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse” (*The Godfather* 0:12:45).

“There's no place like home” (*The Wizard of Oz* 1:45:20).

“You can't handle the truth!” (*A Few Good Men* 1:55:10).

“Life is like a box of chocolates” (*Forrest Gump* 0:33:15).

“I'll be back” (*The Terminator* 0:42:10).

“Why so serious?” (*The Dark Knight* 1:10:22).

“Houston, we have a problem” (*Apollo 13* 1:20:05).

“You talking to me?” (*Taxi Driver* 0:50:30).

“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” (*The Godfather Part II* 1:35:40).

“I am your father” (*The Empire Strikes Back* 1:48:15).

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by” (Frost, *The Road Not Taken* 18-19).

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul” (Dickinson, *Hope is the thing with feathers* 1-2).

“I contain multitudes” (Whitman, *Song of Myself* 51).

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Shakespeare, *Sonnet 18* 1).

“Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me” (Dickinson, *Because I could not stop for Death* 1-2).

“Do not go gentle into that good night” (Thomas 1).

“I wandered lonely as a cloud” (Wordsworth 1).

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know” (Keats, *Ode on a Grecian Urn* 49-50).

“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds” (Shakespeare, *Sonnet 116* 2-3).

“The fog comes on little cat feet” (Sandburg 1).

“I rise, I rise, I rise” (Angelou, *Still I Rise* 24).

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself” (Whitman 1).

“I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right” (Cleese, *Monty Python*).

“Well-behaved women seldom make history” (Boehmer 33).

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education” (Twain 12).

“Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese” (Brilliant 5).

“Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes” (Martin 8).

“I used to play sports. Then I realized you can buy trophies. Now I’m rich” (Handlin 1).

“I’m not lazy, I’m on energy-saving mode” (Anonymous).

“I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised” (Wright 10).

“If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you” (Anonymous).

“I asked God for a bike, but I know God works in mysterious ways. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness” (Anonymous).

“I’m not short. I’m concentrated awesome” (Anonymous).

“I put my phone in airplane mode, but it won’t take off” (Anonymous).

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken” (Wilde, *Facebook Post*, paraphrased).

“Live, laugh, love—and post about it” (Instagram Caption Trend 2020).

“If you didn’t post it, did it even happen?” (Twitter Meme 2019).

“Good vibes only” (TikTok Bio, 2021).

“Self-care isn’t selfish. Retweet if you agree” (Twitter Thread, 2022).

“No thoughts, head empty” (Reddit, r/wholesomememes 2023).

“Main character energy” (Tumblr, 2022).

“POV: You’re the drama” (TikTok Caption, 2023).

“This is not a cry for help. This is a cry for Wi-Fi” (Twitter, 2020).

“My therapist said I need boundaries. So I unfollowed you” (Instagram Story Template).

“And I oop—” (Viral TikTok phrase, 2021).

“It’s giving… [aesthetic]” (Gen Z slang, Instagram, 2023).