Lesson 6 of 12 · Intermediate
Blockquotes set words apart
One mark, three honest jobs: quote, note, cite.
In this lesson you will learn blockquote syntax and the three uses it genuinely covers — quotation, aside, and cited text.
Syntax
> The actual words someone wrote or said.
> A short note to your future self:
> check the venue capacity before Friday.
> First paragraph of a longer quote.
>
> Second paragraph — the blank quoted line keeps them together.Every quoted line starts with > and a space. Multi-paragraph quotes need a quoted blank line (> alone) between paragraphs, otherwise the quote splits in two. Quotes nest with >>, and they combine freely with bold, italic, links, and lists.
A real example
## Decision: Friday deploys
> "Deployments on Friday cost us two weekends this quarter."
> — Retro notes, March
> Note: this applies to the storefront service only.
> The docs site can still ship any day.What blockquotes are not
Some tools invent special alert boxes — warnings, tips, callouts — from quote-like syntax. Typehall does not: a quote renders as a quote, with no hidden semantics and no color-coded severity. Do not write > [!WARNING] expecting a banner; write the warning as plain words inside the quote so it reads correctly everywhere, including .txt export where no styling survives at all.
Exercise
Pick the quote that decided something this week.
Attribute it on its own line, then add one quoted note about what changes because of it.
Write it as prose first, then shape it: quote lines, one quoted blank line between paragraphs, attribution inside the quote.
New to Typehall? Edit the Markdown in the new note, then choose Preview to see the rendered result, or Split to edit and preview at the same time. How the Markdown editor works. Tip: Split works especially well with Focus enabled, giving the editor and rendered preview more room.
Next, text that must never be reformatted: Code blocks and inline code.
Learn Markdown course index — all 12 lessons in order.