blockquote paragraphs in wordpress

Question

I have used this css to create custom quote marks at the start and end of a quote:

/* blockquote */
blockquote {
  border-left: 3px solid #ccc;
  margin: 1.5em 10px;
  padding: 0.5em 30px 0.5em 20px;
    font-style: italic!important;
  quotes: "\201C""\201D""\2018""\2019";
}
blockquote:before {
  color: #ccc;
  content: open-quote;
  font-size: 3em;
  line-height: 0.1em;
  margin-right: 0.25em;
  vertical-align: -0.4em;
}
blockquote:after {
  color: #ccc;
  content: close-quote;
  font-size: 3em;
  line-height: 0.1em;
  margin-right: 0.25em;
  vertical-align: -0.4em;
}

I want the quotes inline with the content rather than above and below, so used

blockquote p {
display:inline;
}

this works perfectly if I only have one paragraph of text, however if i have multiple then it loses the paragraphs as I have specified p to all be inline.

How do I get the quotes to sit inline without losing paragraphs?