The Quotation Environment

Question

I am trying to make a quotation environment as picture below.

The environment is indented the same as \parindent on each side, the environment is automatically italic, and you can put the person and the date in brackets not in italics.

I don't have an MWE since I'm not really sure where to start. I guess it's something to do with \newinvironment, but I've never used that before.

Could someone help please? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The quoting package is very useful, together with a trick found in the TeXbook (look for Bourbaki in the index).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{quoting,xparse}

\NewDocumentCommand{\bywhom}{m}{% the Bourbaki trick
  {\nobreak\hfill\penalty50\hskip1em\null\nobreak
   \hfill\mbox{\normalfont(#1)}%
   \parfillskip=0pt \finalhyphendemerits=0 \par}%
}

\NewDocumentEnvironment{pquotation}{m}
  {\begin{quoting}[
     indentfirst=true,
     leftmargin=\parindent,
     rightmargin=\parindent]\itshape}
  {\bywhom{#1}\end{quoting}}

\begin{document}

This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
\begin{pquotation}{Jack Johnson, 2003}
`This is a quotation. This is a quotation.
This is a quotation. This is a quotation.
This is a quotation. This is a quotation.
This is a quotation. This is a quotation.
This is a quotation.'
\end{pquotation}
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
\begin{pquotation}{Jack Johnson, 2003}
`This is a quotation. This is a quotation.
This is a quotation. This is a quotation.
This is a quotation. This is a quotation.
This is a quotation. This is a quotation.
This is a quotation. This is a quotation.'
\end{pquotation}
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.
This is not a quotation, this is normal text.

\end{document}

Answer 2

Here's a solution based on the csquotes package:

\documentclass{memoir}
% filler text:
\newcommand\lipx{Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, 
consectetuer adipiscing elit. Ut purus elit,
vestibulum ut, placerat ac, adipiscing vitae, 
felis. Curabitur dictum gravida mauris. Nam 
arcu libero, nonummy eget, consectetuer id, 
vulputate a, magna.}

\usepackage{csquotes}
\SetBlockThreshold{2}
\newcommand\myblockquote[2]{%
  \blockquote{\hspace*{2em}\emph{`#1'}\hfill(#2)}\par}

\begin{document}
\lipx\ \lipx

\myblockquote{\lipx}{Jack Johnson, 2003}

\lipx\ \lipx
\end{document}