<blockquote>: The Block Quotation element

BaselineWidely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The<blockquote>HTML element indicates that the enclosed text is an extended quotation. Usually, this is rendered visually by indentation (seeNotes for how to change it). A URL for the source of the quotation may be given using thecite attribute, while a text representation of the source can be given using the<cite> element.

Try it

<div>  <blockquote cite="https://www.huxley.net/bnw/four.html">    <p>      Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly—they’ll go through      anything. You read and you’re pierced.    </p>  </blockquote>  <p>—Aldous Huxley, <cite>Brave New World</cite></p></div>

div:has(> blockquote) {  background-color: #ededed;  margin: 10px auto;  padding: 15px;  border-radius: 5px;}blockquote p::before {  content: "\201C";}blockquote p::after {  content: "\201D";}blockquote + p {  text-align: right;}

Attributes

This element's attributes include theglobal attributes.

cite: A URL that designates a source document or message for the information quoted. This attribute is intended to point to information explaining the context or the reference for the quote.

Usage notes

According to the specification, attribution for the quotation, if any, must be placed outside the<blockquote> element.

To change the indentation applied to the quoted text, use theCSS margin-left and/ormargin-right properties, or themargin shorthand property.

To include shorter quotes inline rather than in a separate block, use the<q> (Quotation) element.

Examples

This example demonstrates the use of the<blockquote> element to quote a passage fromRFC 1149,A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers.

html

<blockquote cite="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1149">  <p>    Avian carriers can provide high delay, low throughput, and low altitude    service. The connection topology is limited to a single point-to-point path    for each carrier, used with standard carriers, but many carriers can be used    without significant interference with each other, outside early spring. This    is because of the 3D ether space available to the carriers, in contrast to    the 1D ether used by IEEE802.3. The carriers have an intrinsic collision    avoidance system, which increases availability.  </p></blockquote>

Result

Technical summary

Content categories	Flow content, sectioning root, palpable content.
Permitted content	Flow content.
Tag omission	None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory.
Permitted parents	Any element that acceptsflow content.
Implicit ARIA role	`blockquote`
Permitted ARIA roles	Any
DOM interface	`HTMLQuoteElement`