How do you successfully quote within an essay?

When choosing what quotations to apply to an argument, it is important to consider what is directly relevant. For example, if the question asks about the effect of a character's appearance on the reader, it would be irrelevant to include a quotation about what the character had been doing that day. Another vital point is not to include quotations that are too lenghty;  it takes away from the argument and takes up valuable word space. When embedding a quotation within a sentence, the key is to imagine that the quotation is part of the sentence itself. For example: The lady is described as having 'a gentle expression'.