Sometimes you need to use quotes within quotes in fiction. This happens when directly quoting what another character has said, or quoting written material.

“You said, ‘we need to do this today.’”

“I never said ‘we need to.’”

The quotes within quotes need to be differentiated so the reader knows who is speaking and what’s being quoted so double or single quotation marks need to be used consistently.

‘What’s the recipe say?’

‘It says, “cook for 25 minutes.”’

The exception to this rule is scare quotes. These are used like we might use air quotes when speaking to indicate sarcasm or doubt. They should be used sparingly. They occur in the main narrative, not direct speech and use the same type of speech marks, either double or single as the dialogue.

How was he to know ‘Douglas’ was a hobby horse?

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