The colon is the red light of any writing piece. It is a place where you come to a complete stop, look in every direction and then proceed slowly. When I was young we were taught to count to two whenever our reading bumped into a colon. A colon indicates that something important is coming: a list of things will follow, a majestic or necessary quote is about to be quoted, a cool and interesting thought is about to be added, or a bit of relevant and factual information is going to be addressed. In most cases, since the colon is within a sentence, there is no need to capitalize the first word after the colon, but you should if a long quote follows the colon, or if you add an additional, fully expressed thought that could work as a complete sentence.
Colons to Introduce Quotes:
Colons to Introduce Lists:
Colons to Introduce Ideas or Thoughts:
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