stored queries and quoted strings

Hello,

I have a strange problem with stored queries like this

  $sql = qq/
         SELECT city, country
         FROM countries
         WHERE city LIKE ?
         ORDER BY city
           /;
  $sthCity= $dbh->prepare($sql);
  my $tempCity = $dbh->quote("n%");
  $sthCity->execute($tempCity);
  my $result = $sthCity->fetchall_arrayref;

the query doesn't return any value. It works only if I remove the -
>quote(). The following code actually works retuning all cities with
their name n-something

  my $tempCity = "n%";
  $sthCity->execute($tempCity);
  my $result = $sthCity->fetchall_arrayref;

bu I'm a little bit worried to use a a WHERE statement without quoting
the search pattern (input by user). Is it a problem or not?

Thanks,

Filippo