To cite a quote in MLA format, follow these guidelines:

For Short Quotes (four lines or fewer)

• Enclose the quoted material in double quotation marks.
• Include the author's last name and the page number where the quote appears in parentheses immediately after the quote, with no comma between them.
• Place the punctuation mark (period, comma, etc.) after the parenthetical citation.

Example: Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263)

. If the author's name is mentioned in the sentence, only the page number is needed in parentheses: Wordsworth describes romantic poetry as characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263)

. If the source has no page numbers, include only the author's last name: (Smith).

For Long Quotes (more than four lines)

• Format the quote as a block quote: start on a new line, indent one inch from the left margin, and do not use quotation marks.
• Place the parenthetical citation after the closing punctuation of the quote.

Example: Conservation has as its aim the independent flourishing of nonhuman life, but in reality, non-human abundance that is not engineered by human society invites responses of suppression. Ambivalence toward autonomous nonhuman flourishing can be seen in dominant conservationist responses to those animals that do manage to thrive in the human-dominated landscapes that characterize today’s Earth. Such organisms are more often than not reviled and suppressed as pests, invasive species, vectors of disease, or simply not 'valuable.' (Srinivasan and Collard 293)

Additional Notes

• For quotes within quotes, use single quotation marks inside double quotation marks.
• If the source has no author, use a shortened title in quotation marks instead of the author's name.
• Always include a full citation for the source in the Works Cited page.

These rules ensure clarity and consistency when quoting sources in MLA style