On using quotes

Larry Cheek here, checking in with one additional comment on using direct quotes. The best advice I've ever heard (and used) is this simple axiom:

Paraphrase the fact, quote the emotion.

So if I'm interviewing a mayor who tells me, "I've directed our Planning Department to quantitively analyze the best options for mitigating seismic events," I'm not going to quote that. I'm going to say the mayor wants to figure out how to keep earthquakes from tearing up the city.

If the mayor says (and I hope he does), "Every night I'm awake at 2 a.m. worrying about the next earthquake," I'm absolutely going to use that as a direct quote. It conveys emotion, humanity and intensity, and it adds texture to my story.