The Q element is intended to set off an inline quote inside a document. The HTML 4.0 specification indicates that browsers should automatically surround the content of a Q element with language-sensitive quotation marks, and that authors should not include quotes. Internet Explorer 4 does not render such quote marks. If you need quotes around quoted text, you have no choice at this point but to include them yourself and not use the Q element (because a future browser may add those quotes to the content). For a block-level quotation, see the BLOCKQUOTE element.

A URL pointing to an online source document from which the quotation is taken. This is not in any way a mechanism for copying or extracting content from another document. Presumably, this HTML 4.0 recommendation is to encourage future browsers and search engines to utilize a reference to online source material for the benefit of readers and surfers.