diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 9ded954496..2cd0263e13 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -513,11 +513,23 @@ static int store_write_pair(int fd, const char* key, const char* value)
 {
 	int i;
 	int length = strlen(key+store.baselen+1);
+	int quote = 0;
+
+	/* Check to see if the value needs to be quoted. */
+	if (value[0] == ' ')
+		quote = 1;
+	for (i = 0; value[i]; i++)
+		if (value[i] == ';' || value[i] == '#')
+			quote = 1;
+	if (value[i-1] == ' ')
+		quote = 1;
 
 	if (write_in_full(fd, "\t", 1) != 1 ||
 	    write_in_full(fd, key+store.baselen+1, length) != length ||
 	    write_in_full(fd, " = ", 3) != 3)
 		return 0;
+	if (quote && write_in_full(fd, "\"", 1) != 1)
+		return 0;
 	for (i = 0; value[i]; i++)
 		switch (value[i]) {
 		case '\n':
@@ -537,6 +549,8 @@ static int store_write_pair(int fd, const char* key, const char* value)
 				return 0;
 			break;
 		}
+	if (quote && write_in_full(fd, "\"", 1) != 1)
+		return 0;
 	if (write_in_full(fd, "\n", 1) != 1)
 		return 0;
 	return 1;
diff --git a/t/t1300-repo-config.sh b/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
index a29caa06dc..60acdd368b 100755
--- a/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
+++ b/t/t1300-repo-config.sh
@@ -401,5 +401,22 @@ test_expect_success numbers '
 	test z1048576 = "z$m"
 '
 
+rm .git/config
+
+git-repo-config quote.leading " test"
+git-repo-config quote.ending "test "
+git-repo-config quote.semicolon "test;test"
+git-repo-config quote.hash "test#test"
+
+cat > expect << EOF
+[quote]
+	leading = " test"
+	ending = "test "
+	semicolon = "test;test"
+	hash = "test#test"
+EOF
+
+test_expect_success 'quoting' 'cmp .git/config expect'
+
 test_done