Comma with quoted material

Quoted material, if brief, is usually introduced by a
comma; if longer or more formal, by a colon. If a quotation is introduced by that, whether, or a
similar conjunction, no comma is needed.

It was Emerson who wrote, “Blessed are those who have no
talent!”

She replied, “I hope you are not referring to me.”

Was it Stevenson who said that “the cruelest lies are often
told in silence”?

He is now wondering whether “to hold, as ’twere, the
mirror up to nature.”