diff --git a/Lib/distutils/mwerkscompiler.py b/Lib/distutils/mwerkscompiler.py
index 981fd95f01d..1b416715eab 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/mwerkscompiler.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/mwerkscompiler.py
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ def link (self,
                 if value is None:
                     fp.write('#define %s\n'%name)
                 else:
-                    fp.write('#define %s "%s"\n'%(name, value))
+                    fp.write('#define %s %s\n'%(name, value))
             fp.close()
             settings['prefixname'] = prefixname