diff --git a/src/CLI.cpp b/src/CLI.cpp
index 04cc6771..432da5f8 100644
--- a/src/CLI.cpp
+++ b/src/CLI.cpp
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ void CLI::lexArguments ()
     if (lex.token (lexeme, type) &&
         lex.isEOS ())
     {
-      A2 a (Lexer::dequote (_original_args[i].attribute ("raw")), type);
+      A2 a (_original_args[i].attribute ("raw"), type);
       if (quoted)
         a.tag ("QUOTED");
 
diff --git a/src/TagInfoDatabase.cpp b/src/TagInfoDatabase.cpp
index 0e29dfdf..7c7132f5 100644
--- a/src/TagInfoDatabase.cpp
+++ b/src/TagInfoDatabase.cpp
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 #include <TagInfoDatabase.h>
 #include <format.h>
 #include <TagInfo.h>
-
 #include "timew.h"
 
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/util.cpp b/src/util.cpp
index 2be18117..12293ba4 100644
--- a/src/util.cpp
+++ b/src/util.cpp
@@ -54,11 +54,6 @@ std::string escape (const std::string& input, int c)
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 std::string quoteIfNeeded (const std::string& input)
 {
-  if (input[0] == '"' || input[0] == '\'')
-  {
-    return input;
-  }
-
   auto quote = input.find ('"');
   auto space = input.find (' ');
   auto op    = input.find_first_of ("+-/()<^!=~_%");
diff --git a/test/start.t b/test/start.t
index 8dec86ca..a13c8819 100755
--- a/test/start.t
+++ b/test/start.t
@@ -277,6 +277,14 @@ class TestStart(TestCase):
         self.t("start 1h ago proja")
         code, out, err = self.t("start 2h ago proja :adjust")
 
+    def test_start_with_one_quoted_and_one_non_quoted_tag(self):
+        """Start will allow tags encased in quotes"""
+        self.t("start 1h ago foo '\"bar\"' :debug")
+
+        j = self.t.export()
+        self.assertOpenInterval(j[0],
+                expectedTags=["\"bar\"", "foo"])
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     from simpletap import TAPTestRunner