When quoting a book, do the page numbers go before or after the period? Example: “But we must never speak of the times before the Great...

Here is how you would quote the passage according to Modern Language Association (MLA) style:

But we must never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth…. They whisper many strange things, of the towers which rose to the sky, in those Unmentionable Times, and of the wagons which moved without horses, and of the lights which burned without flame. But those were evil times. (Rand 19-20)

Your entire paper must be double spaced. Each line of this block quote would be indented twice from the left margin (two tabs or ten spaces). Because the passage is more than three lines, it must be formatted as a block quote. Do not use quotation marks around it; the double indenting shows it is quoted material. End the quote with its appropriate punctuation mark, and after that, inside parentheses, give the last name of the author and the page number or range without a comma. No period comes after the parentheses.

If you were to quote a passage of three or fewer lines, a different rule applies. You would run the quote into the paragraph of your text, and you would place quotation marks around it. In this case, do not end the quote with a period, just end quotation marks. After the quotation marks, insert your parenthetical reference, and after that place a period. It would look like this:

"But we must never speak of the times before the Great Rebirth…. They whisper many strange things, of the towers which rose to the sky, in those Unmentionable Times" (Rand 19-20).

Whether you use a period before or after your parenthetical reference depends on the length of your quote.