diff --git a/hledger/hledger.m4.md b/hledger/hledger.m4.md
index f9021f288..127d01f83 100644
--- a/hledger/hledger.m4.md
+++ b/hledger/hledger.m4.md
@@ -4328,8 +4328,8 @@ To generate time logs, ie to clock in and clock out, you could:
 
 - at the command line, use these bash aliases:
     ```cli
-    alias ti="echo i `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` \$* >>$TIMELOG"
-    alias to="echo o `date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'` >>$TIMELOG"
+    alias ti='echo i `date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"` $* >>$TIMELOG'
+    alias to='echo o `date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"` >>$TIMELOG'
     ```
 - or use the old `ti` and `to` scripts in the [ledger 2.x repository](https://github.com/ledger/ledger/tree/maint/scripts).
   These rely on a "timeclock" executable which I think is just the ledger 2 executable renamed.