Do quotes count towards your word count in an essay?

Quotations should count as part of your total Word count. However, if it's obvious that you added a lot of quotes to your essay so that you wouldn't have to do much original writing, then you're probably not going to get away with it. Use a reasonable amount of quotation, and only quote things that are really necessary to quote--for example, if an author said something so wisely or humorously or creatively that it adds sparkle to your essay, or if you want to quote an authority to support your arguments.