diff --git a/src/components/builder.cpp b/src/components/builder.cpp
index f37cb46b..bce01ab9 100644
--- a/src/components/builder.cpp
+++ b/src/components/builder.cpp
@@ -90,10 +90,6 @@ void builder::node(string str, bool add_space) {
   string::size_type n, m;
   string s(move(str));
 
-  if ((n = s.size()) > 2 && s[0] == '"' && s[n - 1] == '"') {
-    s = s.substr(1, n - 2);
-  }
-
   while (true) {
     if (s.empty()) {
       break;
diff --git a/src/drawtypes/label.cpp b/src/drawtypes/label.cpp
index 1ec4c776..a9e5a626 100644
--- a/src/drawtypes/label.cpp
+++ b/src/drawtypes/label.cpp
@@ -151,12 +151,6 @@ namespace drawtypes {
       text = conf.get(section, name, move(def));
     }
 
-    size_t len{text.size()};
-
-    if (len > 2 && text[0] == '"' && text[len - 1] == '"') {
-      text = text.substr(1, len - 2);
-    }
-
     const auto get_left_right = [&](string key) {
       auto value = conf.get(section, key, 0U);
       auto left = conf.get(section, key + "-left", value);
diff --git a/src/modules/date.cpp b/src/modules/date.cpp
index 048605bd..dc381791 100644
--- a/src/modules/date.cpp
+++ b/src/modules/date.cpp
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ namespace modules {
       datetime_stream.imbue(std::locale(m_bar.locale.c_str()));
     }
 
-    m_dateformat = string_util::trim(m_conf.get(name(), "date", ""s), '"');
-    m_dateformat_alt = string_util::trim(m_conf.get(name(), "date-alt", ""s), '"');
-    m_timeformat = string_util::trim(m_conf.get(name(), "time", ""s), '"');
-    m_timeformat_alt = string_util::trim(m_conf.get(name(), "time-alt", ""s), '"');
+    m_dateformat = m_conf.get(name(), "date", ""s);
+    m_dateformat_alt = m_conf.get(name(), "date-alt", ""s);
+    m_timeformat = m_conf.get(name(), "time", ""s);
+    m_timeformat_alt = m_conf.get(name(), "time-alt", ""s);
 
     if (m_dateformat.empty() && m_timeformat.empty()) {
       throw module_error("No date or time format specified");