What is the policy on quotes with profanity?

Question

Are expletives (cursing, swear words or vulgar language) allowed on SE sites? states

No.

Expletives are not acceptable behavior on meta or any other Stack Exchange site. If you can't effectively communicate what you need to say without resorting to lowest common denominator cursing, then keep it to yourself.

If you use expletives, you will get a warning.

If you continue to use expletives, you will be placed on timed suspension.

Does this extend to quoting something in an answer that may contain profanity? For example a question about dealing with problematic clients I wished to quote Goodfellas as part of my answer:

Henry Hill: [narrating] Now the guy's got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with the bill? He can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy's gotta come up with Paulie's money every week, no matter what. Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning, huh? Fuck you, pay me.

Would that be acceptable or does the quote itself need to be altered too?

Answer 1

Context is very important. There's a lot of layers of context that are important in this. For sites like English Language & Usage or Movies, there may be valid questions where you're actually talking about something that contains profanity. Censoring it in that case doesn't necessarily help people, though it also helps to avoid bringing excess attention to it (so no need to spell it all out in titles, for example).

What's also important is necessity.

For example a question about dealing with problematic clients I wished to quote Goodfellas as part of my answer

This is charming in a way that adds flavor to the answer, one who isn't me might say. It's also unlikely to really be necessary to get the actual meat of your answer across - we don't need to make this network the kind of place where we'd want to use that language, even quoted. If you can't avoid the quote altogether, you can always describe the scene instead, noting about it being a rant about how no matter what, payment has to be delivered end of story. Color is nice but when we're looking at something that isn't the direct topic of the question, then precisely as your quote goes:

If you can't effectively communicate what you need to say without resorting to lowest common denominator cursing, then keep it to yourself.