diff --git a/sphinx/cmd/quickstart.py b/sphinx/cmd/quickstart.py
index 76e9254fb..d7465b731 100644
--- a/sphinx/cmd/quickstart.py
+++ b/sphinx/cmd/quickstart.py
@@ -395,13 +395,6 @@ def generate(d, overwrite=True, silent=False, templatedir=None):
     d['project_doc_texescaped'] = (d['project'] + ' Documentation').\
         translate(texescape.tex_escape_map)
 
-    # escape backslashes and single quotes in strings that are put into
-    # a Python string literal
-    for key in ('project', 'project_doc', 'project_doc_texescaped',
-                'author', 'author_texescaped', 'copyright',
-                'version', 'release', 'master'):
-        d[key + '_str'] = d[key].replace('\\', '\\\\').replace("'", "\\'")
-
     ensuredir(d['path'])
 
     srcdir = d['sep'] and path.join(d['path'], 'source') or d['path']
diff --git a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/conf.py_t b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/conf.py_t
index 90f3113ed..d354781bb 100644
--- a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/conf.py_t
+++ b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/conf.py_t
@@ -13,12 +13,12 @@
 {% if append_syspath -%}
 import os
 import sys
-sys.path.insert(0, '{{ module_path }}')
+sys.path.insert(0, {{ module_path | repr }})
 {% else -%}
 # import os
 # import sys
 {% if module_path -%}
-# sys.path.insert(0, '{{ module_path }}')
+# sys.path.insert(0, {{ module_path | repr }})
 {% else -%}
 # sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('.'))
 {% endif -%}
@@ -26,14 +26,14 @@ sys.path.insert(0, '{{ module_path }}')
 
 # -- Project information -----------------------------------------------------
 
-project = '{{ project_str }}'
-copyright = '{{ copyright_str }}'
-author = '{{ author_str }}'
+project = {{ project | repr }}
+copyright = {{ copyright | repr }}
+author = {{ author | repr }}
 
 # The short X.Y version
-version = '{{ version_str }}'
+version = {{ version | repr }}
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags
-release = '{{ release_str }}'
+release = {{ release | repr }}
 
 
 # -- General configuration ---------------------------------------------------
@@ -54,11 +54,11 @@ templates_path = ['{{ dot }}templates']
 # You can specify multiple suffix as a list of string:
 #
 # source_suffix = ['.rst', '.md']
-source_suffix = '{{ suffix }}'
+source_suffix = {{ suffix | repr }}
 
 {% if master_doc != 'index' -%}
 # The master toctree document.
-master_doc = '{{ master_str }}'
+master_doc = {{ master | repr }}
 
 {% endif -%}
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
@@ -127,8 +127,8 @@ latex_elements = {
 # (source start file, target name, title,
 #  author, documentclass [howto, manual, or own class]).
 latex_documents = [
-    (master_doc, '{{ project_fn }}.tex', '{{ project_doc_texescaped_str }}',
-     '{{ author_texescaped_str }}', 'manual'),
+    (master_doc, '{{ project_fn }}.tex', {{ project_doc_texescaped | repr }},
+     {{ author_texescaped | repr }}, 'manual'),
 ]