diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 4e6f536..e4cda98 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -212,7 +212,6 @@ namespace HighGround {
                         GroundInstruction gi3 = groundCreateInstruction(CREATELABEL);
                         groundAddReferenceToInstruction(&gi3, groundCreateReference(LABEL, labelId.data()));
                         codeBlock.code.push_back(gi3);
-                        codeBlock.code.push_back(groundCreateInstruction(PAUSE));
                         code.push_back(codeBlock);
                         break;
                     }
@@ -525,9 +524,29 @@ namespace HighGround {
             current = 0;
             std::vector<std::string> tokens;
             std::string buf;
+            bool inString = false;
             while (auto copt = consume()) {
                 char c = copt.value();
+                if (inString) {
+                    buf.push_back(c);
+                    if (c == '"') {
+                        tokens.push_back(buf);
+                        buf.clear();
+                        inString = false;
+                    }
+                    continue;
+                }
                 switch (c) {
+                    // double quotes are special
+                    case '"': {
+                        if (!buf.empty()) {
+                            tokens.push_back(buf);
+                            buf.clear();
+                        }
+                        buf.push_back(c);
+                        inString = true;
+                        break;
+                    }
                     // tokens which are not followed by anything
                     case '\n':
                     case '(':
diff --git a/tests/data.hg b/tests/data.hg
index 79332ec..c034a30 100644
--- a/tests/data.hg
+++ b/tests/data.hg
@@ -3,3 +3,5 @@ puts 432
 puts 3.141
 puts 'c'
 puts true
+
+puts "now we have proper string lexing!!!!!11!!@!2!1@1@12!!!112!@"
diff --git a/tests/if.hg b/tests/if.hg
index ee6ca87..ebea1a3 100644
--- a/tests/if.hg
+++ b/tests/if.hg
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-if true {
+if 1 == 1 {
     puts "huzzah"
 }