If I have the following code, how come the displayed text is not vertically aligned in the space provided?

HTML Code:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

<html>
<head>
	<title>Untitled</title>
<Style>

	.quote
	{
		position : absolute;
		COLOR: #ac2b31;
	    FONT-FAMILY: "Bauhaus 93", Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif;
		FONT-SIZE: 12pt;
		height: 150px;
		border: solid 2px;
		vertical-align: middle;
	} 

</STYLE>
</head>

<body>
<div class="quote">&quot;aaaaaa bbbbb cccccaaaaaa bbbbb ccccc
aaaaaa bbbbb cccccaaaaaa bbbbb cccccaaaaaa bbbbb ccccc aaaaaa bbbbb ccccc
aaaaaa bbbbb cccccaaaaaa bbbbb cccccaaaaaa bbbbb ccccc&quot;</font>
</div>
</body>
</html>