Wikiquote talk:Notability

Testing Notability of Quotes
Although we recommend that quotations be notable in themselves, we have allowed in practice that the notability of a person or a work may trump the notability of a quotation. If someone reading Paradise Lost, for example, is pleased by a certain line or passage, it may be added as a quotation regardless of whether those words have been quoted much or at all. In this case, the notability of the author and/or the work is sufficient. Sometimes we pay the price for this: unremarkable or even trite remarks clogging the pages of notable people. There are readers who are enraptured by just about anything written by a loved or admired author. (They're the same individuals, I imagine, who underline almost every other sentence in library books.) And yet, though we regret this, we indulge it because the alternative is worse: namely, sticking to only the tried and true among quotes, which would make us, for all our efforts, not essentially different from compilers of Familiar Quotations; and why merely duplicate what others have done?

Keeping in mind that you were not intending to indicate policy or guidelines, what would you say about this as it applies to your essay? Would you have a problem with a quote which, after being checked on Google or the like, yields little or nothing although it's from a notable source? - InvisibleSun 20:41, 18 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I've no problem with the 'personal favourite' type of quote (so long as it's a notable person), and indeed I've added one or two myself. I'm still working on the essay but want to play out general standards of notability under the three categories of article, and then go on to selection of quotes. Fys. &#147;Ta fys aym&#148;. 21:24, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

I've added some ideas regarding theme articles.Ferrylodge 18:51, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Quoting legal texts
Chinese wiki quotes more legal texts, like from legislative laws, executive orders, and judicial cases. As I see nothing about notability of works, any comments before I quote legal texts?--Jusjih (talk) 22:54, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Significant legal texts of major nations are certainly quotable, and how notable they might seem would largely depend on many factors. I see nothing wrong with venturing to put forth what you find notable among them, wherever they might be appropriate. ~ ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 10 February 2014 (UTC)