Do I need permissions in these cases?

What's the context here? Is this fiction or non-fiction?

Yes, you need permission. Cost depends on a bunch of things. Check with the rights-holder.

If it's a scholarly work or informational in nature, or a review, or discussing another author's work on your blog, then a properly cited or attributed quotation might fall under fair use. If it's a work of fiction, then it is less likely to fall under fair use (even if attributed), and there are no clear-cut guidelines about how many words are permissible for works of varying length. Parodies can fall under fair use, however. Be aware that this is one of the most confusing areas of copyright law, so it's important to some research on this beyond asking random strangers on the web.

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

https://janefriedman.com/permissions/

https://www15.uta.fi/FAST/PK6/REF/fairuse.html

I've edited lots of non-fiction books which weren't published by academic presses. All my authors were required to obtain permissions, in writing, from every single quote they used. The authors almost always had to pay for this.

If you're planning on self publishing make sure you get permission for all territories your book might be available in, all formats, and for reasonably quantities of sales.

You will be expected to acknowledge these quotes in your book, in addition to paying for them.

Cost can be anything from about fifty quid to several hundred per quote. In some cases, the cost can run to thousands per quote, especially if you've quoted song lyrics, which are notoriously expensive to use.

If you are in any doubt at all, take advice from a specialist lawyer. Don't rely on random people on the internet to tell you what's what.

It isn't clear what you're talking about exactly, but for nonfiction, sometimes you need permission to use lengthy passages from another writer's work, and sometimes you need no permission at all to use an entire work. Read fair use law. It's pretty clear on when these things apply.

In other words, only the editor at the publishing house when you want to submit the work can answer this question. Period. But I can say this, never in my writing life have I asked for permission to quote anyone, and I never will. Nor has any editor asked me to do so.

If you mean quoting what someone says publicly, then you never need permission. If you mean what someone says in private to you, you still don't need permission. If you did, journalism would not exist, nor would any book or article that said something negative about the subject of the writing.

In both cases, if you ask permission, you will probably be told no for anything that's negative. If you receive permission, you will probably have to pay for it. Neither is necessary.

Jamesaritchie said:

It isn't clear what you're talking about exactly, but for nonfiction, sometimes you need permission to use lengthy passages from another writer's work, and sometimes you need no permission at all to use an entire work. Read fair use law. It's pretty clear on when these things apply.

Click to expand...

Fair use isn't law, it's a set of guidelines for writers. And it's pretty vague, too, which is partly why we get so many questions about it.

In other words, only the editor at the publishing house when you want to submit the work can answer this question. Period.

Click to expand...

Wrong. The publisher of your work has an input, the publisher of the work you're quoting has an input, and the writer has an input. Even if your publisher says no, you can still insist on getting permissions if you're keen to avoid litigation. Without permission you might be fine, you might not. With permission? No problem.

But I can say this, never in my writing life have I asked for permission to quote anyone, and I never will. Nor has any editor asked me to do so.

Click to expand...

You write Western novels. I'm not sure there's much need for quoting from other works in them so it's not surprising you've never asked for permissions. But if there were, you'd be very foolish to proceed without appropriate permissions.

If you mean quoting what someone says publicly, then you never need permission. If you mean what someone says in private to you, you still don't need permission. If you did, journalism would not exist, nor would any book or article that said something negative about the subject of the writing.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure we're talking about quoting written works, not what people have said. You started off your point by mentioning "fair use law", which isn't a law; but fair use guidelines refer to written works, not spoken quotes. Please be more consistent.

In both cases, if you ask permission, you will probably be told no for anything that's negative. If you receive permission, you will probably have to pay for it. Neither is necessary.

Click to expand...

This is really bad advice, James. But as you've already said that "never in my writing life have I asked for permission to quote anyone, and I never will" it's clear that you have no experience or expertise in this area, and are not someone we should be taking advice from in this regard.