Q. How do you format a free standing quotation (epigraph) at the beginning of a paper in APA or MLA?

A short quotation at the beginning of a chapter or article is called an epigraph. The quote is treated like an extract and indented from the left margin. Only the author’s name (and only the author’s last name if he or she is well-known) and the book’s title should be given in italics. The credit line should be on the line beneath the epigraph, flush right, preceded by an em dash; if it is very short, it can be run on the same line as the last line of the epigraph. An epigraph’s source is not listed in the References section.

 I envy people who drink—at least they know what to blame everything on.

—Oscar Levant, The Portable Curmudgeon