diff --git a/bin/lein b/bin/lein
index a7214ebb..8a2bae9a 100755
--- a/bin/lein
+++ b/bin/lein
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ fi
 export JAVA_CMD=${JAVA_CMD:-"java"}
 
 # Support $JAVA_OPTS for backwards-compatibility.
-export JVM_OPTS=${JVM_OPTS:-"$JAVA_OPTS"}
+export JVM_OPTS="${JVM_OPTS:-"$JAVA_OPTS"}"
 
 # TODO: investigate http://skife.org/java/unix/2011/06/20/really_executable_jars.html
 # If you're packaging this for a package manager (.deb, homebrew, etc)