Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/225

 to the manner born—implies on the part of the author a low estimate of the reader's knowledge of literature. It is an intimation that he has not read these phrases and knows little or nothing of the writings of good authors. This remark may be applied to all trite proverbs and hackneyed sayings, which do not need quote-marks any more than they need foot-notes citing author, book, and page.

No fixed line can be drawn between the proper and the improper use of quote-marks, which may be proper on one occasion and not on another. The author, not the compositor, must avoid the imputation of filching the language of another writer by omitting the quote-marks, as well as that of a pedantic precision by inserting them where they are not needed and may be a positive offence. The compositor has no choice; he must follow copy.

When a sentence or a long extract from another writer is incorporated in the type of the text, two turned commas are usually placed at the beginning and two apostrophes at the end of the incorporated matter. If the extract consists of two or more paragraphs, the turned commas should be used at the beginning of every paragraph, but the doubled apostrophes appear only at the end of the quotation.

There have been authors who held that quote-marks at the beginning and the end of an extract extending over one or more pages were not emphatic enough to catch the eye of a casual reader.