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How do I specify a quote in org-mode so that it is rendered nicely in github? In markdown it is rendered like so:

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

  • albert enstein

thanks in advance.

ninrod
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2 Answers2

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When quoting a passage from another document, it is customary to format this as a paragraph that is indented on both the left and the right margin. You can include quotations in Org mode documents like this:

 #+BEGIN_QUOTE
 Everything should be made as simple as possible,
 but not any simpler -- Albert Einstein
 #+END_QUOTE

This information in available in the org manual

When you convert your file to html then your text will be as shown below

enter image description here

Prasanna
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    You can insert #+BEGIN_QUOTE and #+END_QUOTE lines quickly by typing <q and then pressing TAB. –  Oct 06 '16 at 15:18
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    Is there a way to actually add formatting options to the quote in orgmode? E.g. #+BEGIN_QUOTE -gray_background -blue_margin ...? Just a silly example, but I'd like to get nice formatting like the OP's. – n1k31t4 Jun 27 '18 at 19:02
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    Newer versions of Org-mode do not have <q TAB, but rather C-c C-, q (and its ilk). – Fernando Basso Sep 08 '19 at 23:00
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    @FernandoBasso you can still have <q TAB shortcut - you need to enable the org-tempo sub-module to have these structure template shorthands https://orgmode.org/manual/Structure-Templates.html – Christian Herenz Apr 22 '20 at 14:36
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    (Thank you @FernandoBasso, I noticed that <q had stopped working and was bereft!) – Paul Bissex May 12 '21 at 16:36
  • Just to be clear, there is actually no alternative, such as prefixing each line with a "> "? The objective here is an economy of lines, to see more of the document in the editor. (Yes, I know, this comment should be a separate question.) – Sam7919 Feb 08 '24 at 14:42
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If you want to get nice formatting, you can customize the CSS of blockquote element.

Why blockquote element? If you use browser's inspect function to inspect the quote block, you can find its style is controlled by blockquote element.

Below is an example of StackExchange like quote block, you can find the configuration by using inspect function.

#+BEGIN_EXPORT html
<style>
blockquote {
    margin-bottom: 10px;
    padding: 10px;
    background-color: #FFF8DC;
    border-left: 2px solid #ffeb8e;
    border-left-color: rgb(255, 228, 102);
    display: block;
    margin-block-start: 1em;
    margin-block-end: 1em;
    margin-inline-start: 40px;
    margin-inline-end: 40px;
}
</style>
#+END_EXPORT

#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Everything should be made as simple as possible,


but not any simpler -- Albert Einstein
#+END_QUOTE

It renders like

enter image description here

In addition to writing css yourself, you can use alhassy/org-special-block-extras which offers a number of new custom blocks and link types.

Ynjxsjmh
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