It's good to have context. It's not good to send emails that cover screen after screen with old quoted emails.

In Gmail, sending good replies with just the right amount of quoted content from the original message can mean highlighting clumsily around the text you want to keep; or selecting just what you want to quote and pressing a key.

Reply Quoting Only Highlighted Text in Gmail

To quote only what you have highlighted in the original message when replying in Gmail (instead of the entire email):

• Click Settings in Gmail.
• Go to the Labs category.
• Make sure Enabled is selected for Quote selected text.
• Click Save Changes.

Now,

• highlight the portion you want to quote in your reply when viewing an email.
• Press r.
  • Note that clicking Reply may not work. Do use the keyboard shortcut.