Copyright query ....advise please

[Lightsareonnobodyshome]

Hi All
I work in an nhs Trust and have been looking at some little things given the present situation to support staff who will of course be struggling with good and bad days. I was thinking of maybe putting up posters here and then with hope & positivity quotes, as well as messages to acknowledge that it is ok not to be ok and signpost support. My query is where do I stand if I use positivity quotes from the internet, would this come under fair processing, its not for profit and if a quote has the authors name on it wont be hidden or anything. Any help or advise would be appreciated.(Apologies if this sounds a lame idea)

Schools do it all the time!

The DfE buys copyright licences for all state-funded primary and secondary schools in England so they don't have a problem.

Using quotes from the internet is a breach of copyright. Using the quotes in the way you describe does not fall under fair usage. However, I would be surprised if copyright holders took any action for this. But if you want to be sure, either stick to stuff that is out of copyright (i.e. where the author died more than 70 years ago) or use things that are available under an appropriate licence (Creative Commons, GFDL or similar). You could also try contacting the author for permission where possible - I suspect most would be happy to agree.