http://www.elijournals.com/images/articleFigures/0302/msw0321a.gif

I intentionally didn't suggest a layout like this. 1st it
has a horrible spacing and 2nd it's very hard to read.

This would mark up the text surrounding the pull quote as

somehow different than the one preceding and following the

pull quote and thus confuse the reader.

I don’t think so because it’s common in magazines but TeX

isn’t the best tool for this.

Mostly in magazines the layout comes first and the
readability second, that's why magazines can't be a
measure for a readable layout. Best example is variable
inter-character spacing.

• http://www.wyssdesign.com/Wyss_Design_Images/Bookprojects/Wyss_Design_Success_Spread1.jpg

• http://www.twopeaspublishing.com/assets/sample_pullquote.jpg

These both pull quotes are not centred.

• http://homeforprofits.com/wp-content/uploads/wikipedia-pullquote.png

• http://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-2897250-31035/Picture+32.png

This looks fine, it's common this way. But it only works
in a two-column layout. I assumed we're talking about one
column layouts.