How would I cite a quote in the beginning sentence of an essay?

Question

anonymous · Answer

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

wolfe8 · Answer

You can do, Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

There are many ways to do it. You can Google 'ways to quote in essay' or something. :) Good luck.

anonymous · Answer

You could start it off, for example, if you were doing a report on Emerson, say something like, "Ralph Waldo Emerson's voice still out stands many others, even after his death, for he once said, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." This quote.... [here you state why it's important, etc. etc.]

Of course, your essay might not be about Emerson, but this is just an example, if you WERE doing a report on Emerson.

I hope I helped! Good luck with your essay! XD

anonymous · Answer

@wolfe8 @halai
I was hoping to place it at the very beginning like "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." and then cite his name some how and then go on to say personal development is the process of achieving and expanding your full potential
-The full essay is about personal development

jagatuba · Answer

Personally I would do it similar to how @wolfe8 mentioned, but if you really must lead with the quote, do it like this:

State the quote. Without citing directly, but in the very next sentence indicate that he is the one who said that, where he said it, and why you are including, or more importantly, letting it lead your essay. To allow a quote to lead your essay, it must have great significance. State it along with the authors name.

Example:

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." What Ralph Waldo Emerson meant in [context or source from which the quote ws taken] was ... 

Or something similar: Ralph Waldo Emerson's words from [context or work from which the quote was taken] echo with the times ... such and such and something else relevant to your paper.

NOW! That said, do not use that quote unless you absolutely have to. Why? Because you do not have a source. In what work did Emerson say that? In what context? Unless you can attribute the quote to a specific source, don't use it. I know that is a great quote I like it myself, but I wouldn't use it in a paper. It has been attributed to everyone from Emerson to Oliver Wendell Holmes to Henry David Thoreau.

A better quote to use would actually be one of my personal favorites from Thoreau:

"... to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line."

It's from Walden, page 16 to be precise (well in my version). It even says essentially what the quote that you have says, or at least you can shape it to fit.

That's my 2 cents.