diff --git a/vhdlpp/debug.cc b/vhdlpp/debug.cc
index 71ca0abd4..22fb312a6 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/debug.cc
+++ b/vhdlpp/debug.cc
@@ -415,12 +415,8 @@ void ExpRelation::dump(ostream&out, int indent) const
 
 void ExpString::dump(ostream&out, int indent) const
 {
-    out << setw(indent) << "" << "String \"";
-    for(vector<char>::const_iterator it = value_.begin();
-        it != value_.end(); ++it)
-        out << *it;
-    out << "\""
-    << " at " << get_fileline() << endl;
+    out << setw(indent) << "" << "String \"" << value_;
+    out << "\"" << " at " << get_fileline() << endl;
 }
 
 void ExpUAbs::dump(ostream&out, int indent) const
diff --git a/vhdlpp/expression.cc b/vhdlpp/expression.cc
index 4361656a0..b9573d1ef 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/expression.cc
+++ b/vhdlpp/expression.cc
@@ -632,10 +632,8 @@ ExpShift::ExpShift(ExpShift::shift_t op, Expression*op1, Expression*op2)
 }
 
 ExpString::ExpString(const char* value)
-: value_(strlen(value))
+: value_(value)
 {
-      for(size_t idx = 0; idx < value_.size(); idx += 1)
-	    value_[idx] = value[idx];
 }
 
 ExpString::~ExpString()
diff --git a/vhdlpp/expression.h b/vhdlpp/expression.h
index ba1a48120..ee609ae60 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/expression.h
+++ b/vhdlpp/expression.h
@@ -796,13 +796,17 @@ class ExpString : public Expression {
       int emit(ostream&out, Entity*ent, ScopeBase*scope);
       bool is_primary(void) const;
       void dump(ostream&out, int indent = 0) const;
-      const std::vector<char>& get_value() const { return value_; }
+      const std::string& get_value() const { return value_; }
+
+	// Converts quotation marks (") to its escaped
+	// counterpart in SystemVerilog (\")
+      static std::string escape_quot(const std::string& str);
 
     private:
       int emit_as_array_(ostream&out, Entity*ent, ScopeBase*scope, const VTypeArray*arr);
 
     private:
-      std::vector<char> value_;
+      std::string value_;
 };
 
 class ExpUAbs : public ExpUnary {
diff --git a/vhdlpp/expression_emit.cc b/vhdlpp/expression_emit.cc
index 9ab2c66fa..09ac0654d 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/expression_emit.cc
+++ b/vhdlpp/expression_emit.cc
@@ -916,11 +916,8 @@ int ExpString::emit(ostream& out, Entity*ent, ScopeBase*scope)
 	    return emit_as_array_(out, ent, scope, arr);
       }
 
-      out << "\"";
-      for(vector<char>::const_iterator it = value_.begin()
-	  ; it != value_.end(); ++it)
-	    out << *it;
-      out << "\"";
+      out << "\"" << escape_quot(value_) << "\"";
+
       return 0;
 }
 
@@ -959,6 +956,19 @@ int ExpString::emit_as_array_(ostream& out, Entity*, ScopeBase*, const VTypeArra
       return errors;
 }
 
+std::string ExpString::escape_quot(const std::string& str)
+{
+      size_t idx = 0;
+      string result(str);
+
+      while((idx = result.find('"', idx)) != string::npos) {
+         result.replace(idx, 1, "\\\"");
+         idx += 2;
+      }
+
+      return result;
+}
+
 int ExpUAbs::emit(ostream&out, Entity*ent, ScopeBase*scope)
 {
       int errors = 0;
diff --git a/vhdlpp/expression_stream.cc b/vhdlpp/expression_stream.cc
index 1321a3740..d707fdcff 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/expression_stream.cc
+++ b/vhdlpp/expression_stream.cc
@@ -272,10 +272,15 @@ void ExpShift::write_to_stream(ostream&out) const
 void ExpString::write_to_stream(ostream&fd) const
 {
     fd << "\"";
-    for(vector<char>::const_iterator it = value_.begin();
-      it != value_.end(); ++it) {
-        fd << *it;
+
+    // Restore double quotation marks
+    for(string::const_iterator it = value_.begin(); it != value_.end(); ++it) {
+        if(*it == '"')
+            fd << "\"\"";
+        else
+            fd << *it;
     }
+
     fd << "\"";
 }
 
diff --git a/vhdlpp/sequential_emit.cc b/vhdlpp/sequential_emit.cc
index 7148e2b52..ec60fa394 100644
--- a/vhdlpp/sequential_emit.cc
+++ b/vhdlpp/sequential_emit.cc
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ int ReportStmt::emit(ostream&out, Entity*, ScopeBase*)
         case UNSPECIFIED:   ivl_assert(*this, false); break;
     }
 
-    out << msg_;
+    out << ExpString::escape_quot(msg_);
     out << " (" << get_fileline() << ")\");";
 
     if(severity_ == FAILURE)
@@ -497,7 +497,7 @@ int ReportStmt::emit(ostream&out, Entity*, ScopeBase*)
 
 void ReportStmt::write_to_stream(std::ostream&fd)
 {
-    fd << "report \"" << msg_ << "\"" << std::endl;
+    fd << "report \"" << ExpString::escape_quot(msg_) << "\"" << std::endl;
 
     fd << "severity ";
     switch(severity_)