<p>I want to use a quote I really like from an author. Is it too generic to use quotes? I know I run the risk of not expressing my own ideas and so forth, but the quote is very relavent to my train of thought. Any advice?</p>
<p>Just integrate it</p>
<p>The GCs at my school really frowned on adding quotes. They say a lot of it is just fluff that isn't necessary. If it's extremely integral or you have no other ways of expressing the point, then I think it's okay to use a quote. Still, using quotes is like something you'd do for an analytic English essay, and the admissions office is more interested in reading about you rather than about a famous person's words.</p>
<p>I kind of like the idea of using a quote at the END of an essay that really sums up what you have written about yourself. Something like, "As the great author Mark Twain once wrote, "blah blah blah". And then adding one final sentence yourself. I have seen it done in professional writing that I do, and it can be very effective.</p>