diff --git a/test/Makefile.in b/test/Makefile.in
index 451513a7474..597ef913113 100644
--- a/test/Makefile.in
+++ b/test/Makefile.in
@@ -98,9 +98,9 @@ TEST_LOCALE = C
 TEST_INTERACTIVE ?= no
 
 ifeq ($(TEST_INTERACTIVE),yes)
-TEST_RUN_ERT = --eval "(ert ${SELECTOR_ACTUAL})"
+TEST_RUN_ERT = --eval '(ert (quote ${SELECTOR_ACTUAL}))'
 else
-TEST_RUN_ERT = --batch --eval "(ert-run-tests-batch-and-exit ${SELECTOR_ACTUAL})" ${WRITE_LOG}
+TEST_RUN_ERT = --batch --eval '(ert-run-tests-batch-and-exit (quote ${SELECTOR_ACTUAL}))' ${WRITE_LOG}
 endif
 
 # Whether to run tests from .el files in preference to .elc, we do
@@ -140,8 +140,8 @@ test_module_dir := $(srcdir)/data/emacs-module
 
 all: check
 
-SELECTOR_DEFAULT = (quote (not (or (tag :expensive-test) (tag :unstable))))
-SELECTOR_EXPENSIVE = (quote (not (tag :unstable)))
+SELECTOR_DEFAULT = (not (or (tag :expensive-test) (tag :unstable)))
+SELECTOR_EXPENSIVE = (not (tag :unstable))
 SELECTOR_ALL = t
 ifdef SELECTOR
 SELECTOR_ACTUAL=$(SELECTOR)
diff --git a/test/README b/test/README
index c1dde2e0d01..e473248c9e0 100644
--- a/test/README
+++ b/test/README
@@ -42,7 +42,10 @@ except the tests tagged as expensive.
 
 If your test file contains the tests "test-foo", "test2-foo" and
 "test-foo-remote", and you want to run only the former two tests, you
-could use a selector regexp: "make <filename> SELECTOR='\"foo$$\"'".
+could use a selector regexp (note that the "$" needs to be doubled to
+protect against "make" variable expansion):
+
+    make <filename> SELECTOR='"foo$$"'
 
 Note that although the test files are always compiled (unless they set
 no-byte-compile), the source files will be run by default, to give