diff --git a/snakemake/cli.py b/snakemake/cli.py
index 10d0378fd..3a567656d 100644
--- a/snakemake/cli.py
+++ b/snakemake/cli.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def parse_set_resources(args):
     assignments = defaultdict(dict)
     if args is not None:
         for entry in args:
-            key, value = parse_key_value_arg(entry, errmsg=errmsg)
+            key, value = parse_key_value_arg(entry, errmsg=errmsg, strip_quotes=False)
             key = key.split(":")
             if len(key) != 2:
                 raise ValueError(errmsg)
diff --git a/snakemake/common/__init__.py b/snakemake/common/__init__.py
index 20f216860..07939f2ad 100644
--- a/snakemake/common/__init__.py
+++ b/snakemake/common/__init__.py
@@ -60,12 +60,13 @@ def mb_to_mib(mb):
     return int(math.ceil(mb * 0.95367431640625))
 
 
-def parse_key_value_arg(arg, errmsg):
+def parse_key_value_arg(arg, errmsg, strip_quotes=True):
     try:
         key, val = arg.split("=", 1)
     except ValueError:
         raise ValueError(errmsg + f" (Unparseable value: {repr(arg)})")
-    val = val.strip("'\"")
+    if strip_quotes:
+        val = val.strip("'\"")
     return key, val
 
 
diff --git a/snakemake/resources.py b/snakemake/resources.py
index 3c1ef9f06..98a5d0c4b 100644
--- a/snakemake/resources.py
+++ b/snakemake/resources.py
@@ -532,10 +532,10 @@ def generic_callable(val, threads_arg, **kwargs):
             if not is_file_not_found_error(e, kwargs["input"]):
                 # Missing input files are handled by the caller
                 raise WorkflowError(
-                    "Failed to evaluate default resources value "
+                    "Failed to evaluate resources value "
                     f"'{val}'.\n"
                     "    String arguments may need additional "
-                    "quoting. Ex: --default-resources "
+                    "quoting. E.g.: --default-resources "
                     "\"tmpdir='/home/user/tmp'\".",
                     e,
                 )
diff --git a/tests/Snakefile b/tests/Snakefile
deleted file mode 100644
index f4764c34f..000000000
--- a/tests/Snakefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-localrules: all, clean
-
-rule all:
-     input: "pi.calc"
-
-rule clean:
-     shell: "rm -f pi.calc"
-
-rule compile:
-     input: "pi_MPI.c"
-     output: temp("pi_MPI")
-     resources:
-         walltime_minutes=10,
-         partition="smp",
-         tasks=1,
-         threads=1,
-         mem_mb_per_cpu=1800,
-     envmodules: "mpi/OpenMPI/4.0.5-GCC-10.2.0"
-     shell: 
-         'mpicc -o {output} {input}'
-
-rule calc_pi:
-     envmodules: "mpi/OpenMPI/4.0.5-GCC-10.2.0"
-     input: "pi_MPI"
-     output: "pi.calc"
-     resources:
-           nodes=2,
-           mem_mb=57000,
-           walltime_minutes=10,
-           tasks=2,
-           partition="parallel",
-           mpi=True,
-     shell: "{input} {output}"
diff --git a/tests/test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile/Snakefile b/tests/test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile/Snakefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fc0b998d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile/Snakefile
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# fails when submitted as
+# $ snakemake --executor slurm -j2 --workflow-profile ./profiles/ --default-resources slurm_account=m2_zdvhpc
+
+rule all:
+     input: "a.out"
+
+rule test1:
+     output: "a.out"
+     shell: "touch {output}"
diff --git a/tests/test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile/expected-results/a.out b/tests/test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile/expected-results/a.out
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/tests/test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile/profiles/config.yaml b/tests/test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile/profiles/config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7420b386b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile/profiles/config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+set-resources:
+    test1:
+        slurm_partition: "smp"
+        slurm_extra: "'--nice=150'"
diff --git a/tests/tests.py b/tests/tests.py
index 5bb99dd9f..a11634614 100644
--- a/tests/tests.py
+++ b/tests/tests.py
@@ -1969,6 +1969,17 @@ def test_issue1256():
     assert "line 9" in stderr
 
 
+def test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile():
+    test_path = dpath("test_resource_string_in_cli_or_profile")
+    profile = os.path.join(test_path, "profiles")
+    # workflow profile is loaded by default
+    run(
+        test_path,
+        snakefile="Snakefile",
+        shellcmd=f"snakemake --workflow-profile {profile} -c1 --default-resources slurm_account=foo other_resource='--test'",
+    )
+
+
 def test_queue_input():
     run(dpath("test_queue_input"))