Quotation Marks

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Quotation marks

Also called "inverted commas," quotation marks set off dialogue, quoted material, titles of short works, and definitions by demarcating of a section of text: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," said Dorothy, as she opened the door. Before mechanized printing, quotations were indicated by identifying the speaker or using a different typeface, like italics. At the time single quotation marks indicated a pithy comment or quip. By the 1740s, mechanical printing had taken off and printers adopted quotation marks to indicate speech.