Maybe, but if you don't italicize them, they risk looking a lot like blockquotes, and lack a good way of distinguishing the ascription/source. Italics are nice

Maybe, but if you don't italicize them, they risk looking a lot like blockquotes, and lack a good way of distinguishing the ascription/source. Italics are nice and often used for epigraphs, so it's not a weird choice.