Use Commas to Set Off Most Quotations

Use commas, or sometimes a colon, to set off direct quotations that are complete in themselves:

The Unabomber’s manifesto begins, “The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race,” and goes on to condemn modern society.

But don’t use a comma before a quotation that’s part of the flow of your sentence:

Kaczynski goes on at length about the “industrial-technological system” and what’s wrong with it.

Learn more about punctuating quotations.