How to enable/disable automatic quotations marks and control indents with csquote and \blockquote

Question

When my blockquote is long enough, latex don't put quotation marks when using \blockquote in the csquote package, e.g.:

The Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) paradigm is largely attributed to Warren Weavers memorandum to the Rockfella foundation in 1949 \citep{weaver1955translation}:

\blockquote{\emph{It is very tempting to say that a book written in Chinese is simply a book written in English which was coded into the ``Chinese code". If we have useful methods for solving almost any cryptographic problem, may it not be that with proper interpretation we already have useful methods for translation?}}

[out]:

Strangely, when the blockquote is short, latex auotmatically adds quotation marks and it's not indented like the longer block quote:

In one of his memo, \emph{The Art of Discovery} (1685), he writes:

\blockquote{\emph{This language will be the greatest instrument of reason ... when there are disputes among persons, we can simply say: Let us calculate, without further ado, and see who is right.}}

[out]:

Even stranger, it has nothing to do with what's inside the \blockquote, when I extend the short quote with some spam to make it long enough, It jumps back to the settings of the long \blockquote:

In one of his memo, \emph{The Art of Discovery} (1685), he writes:

\blockquote{\emph{This language will be the greatest instrument of reason ... when there are disputes among persons, we can simply say: Let us calculate, without further ado, and see who is right. spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam}}

[out]:

How do I disable the automatic quotation marks within short block quotes?

How do I set the quotation marks for long block quotes?

How do I get the short block quotes to be indented like my long ones?

---

EDITED

Here's a minimum working example:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\begin{document}

The Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) paradigm is largely attributed to Warren Weavers memorandum to the Rockfella foundation in 1949:

\blockquote{\emph{It is very tempting to say that a book written in Chinese is simply a book written in English which was coded into the ``Chinese code". If we have useful methods for solving almost any cryptographic problem, may it not be that with proper interpretation we already have useful methods for translation?}}

\vspace{10mm}

In one of his memo, \emph{The Art of Discovery} (1685), he writes:

\blockquote{\emph{This language will be the greatest instrument of reason ... when there are disputes among persons, we can simply say: Let us calculate, without further ado, and see who is right.}}

\vspace{10mm}
In one of his memo, \emph{The Art of Discovery} (1685), he writes:

\blockquote{\emph{This language will be the greatest instrument of reason ... when there are disputes among persons, we can simply say: Let us calculate, without further ado, and see who is right. spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam}}


\end{document}

And it outputs:

Answer 1

The \blockquote macro determines based on length whether or not the quotation should be a display quotation or an inline quotation. If the latter, then it will be enclosed in quotation marks (as is common for inline quotations).

If you want to force all your quotations to be display quotations, it would be better to use one of the display quotation environments:

\begin{displayquote}
...
\end{displayquote}

Alternatively, you can use the block threshold to force all \blockquote{} to be display. Setting the block threshold to 0 will do this:

\SetBlockThreshold{0}

If you want all your blockquotes to be in an \emph macro then you should redefine the \mkblockquote hook:

\renewcommand{\mkblockquote}[4]{\emph{#1}#2#3#4}

If you want all your blockquotes to be in quotation marks instead:

\renewcommand{\mkblockquote}[4]{\enquote{#1}#2#3#4}

Here's your example with all of these options exemplified. I've removed the \emph{} from your first blockquote but not from the second to show how the \emph{} in the redefined blockquote will correctly handle emphasized text inside the block quote.

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\SetBlockThreshold{0}
\renewcommand{\mkblockquote}[4]{{\emph{#1}}#2#3#4}
\begin{document}

The Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) paradigm is largely attributed to Warren Weavers memorandum to the Rockfella foundation in 1949:

\blockquote{It is very tempting to say that a book written in Chinese is simply a book written in English which was coded into the ``Chinese code". If we have useful methods for solving almost any cryptographic problem, may it not be that with proper interpretation we already have useful methods for translation?}

\vspace{10mm}

In one of his memo, \emph{The Art of Discovery} (1685), he writes:

\blockquote{\emph{This language will be the greatest instrument of reason ... when there are disputes among persons, we can simply say: Let us calculate, without further ado, and see who is right.}}

\vspace{10mm}
\renewcommand{\mkblockquote}[4]{{\enquote{#1}}#2#3#4}
In one of his memo, \emph{The Art of Discovery} (1685), he writes:


\blockquote{This language will be the greatest instrument of reason ... when there are disputes among persons, we can simply say: Let us calculate, without further ado, and see who is right. spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam}


\end{document}