Of course, you cannot just blurt out a quote whenever you feel like it. For a quote to
have the desired effect, it must be properly introduced. One way of introducing a quote
especially if its author is unknown or not notable, is using the phrase "wise man/woman
once said.
If you happen to know the author's occupation and it is related to the quote's content,
you can refer to them using their occupation, e.g. "a German philosopher once wrote" or
"an American journalist once said". This is an especially useful tool when the author's
nationality is to be emphasized.
When the author is notable enough, it's usually best to introduce the quotation using
his or her name, e.g. "Mark Twain once said", "In the worlds of Mark Twain", "It was
Mark Twain who said", "There's a beautiful quote by Mark Twain".
If you don't know the source of a quote, you can always make it sound better by attri-
buting it to me. ---Mark Twain
Of course, Mark Twain never said that--the quote was made up by me to illustrate the
power of misattribution. However, I discourage consciously misattributing quotes, as it
is both unethical and you can alienate those who knew it was a misattribution.
Sometimes, however, an obvious misattribution can be used for a comic effect or to
reinforce the message go the quote, as in:
Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.---Abraham Lincoln
But don't worry, you will find no such misattributions in this book.