diff --git a/api/krusty/configmaps_test.go b/api/krusty/configmaps_test.go
index 024d8ffb84..7219799831 100644
--- a/api/krusty/configmaps_test.go
+++ b/api/krusty/configmaps_test.go
@@ -549,3 +549,26 @@ metadata:
   name: testing-tt4769fb52
 `)
 }
+
+// regression test for https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/issues/4233
+func TestDataEndsWithQuotes(t *testing.T) {
+	th := kusttest_test.MakeHarness(t)
+	th.WriteK(".", `
+apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: Kustomization
+configMapGenerator:
+  - name: test
+    literals:
+      - TEST=this is a 'test'
+`)
+
+	m := th.Run(".", th.MakeDefaultOptions())
+	th.AssertActualEqualsExpected(
+		m, `apiVersion: v1
+data:
+  TEST: this is a 'test'
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: test-k9cc55dfm5
+`)
+}
diff --git a/api/kv/kv.go b/api/kv/kv.go
index b887e583c8..719b761c94 100644
--- a/api/kv/kv.go
+++ b/api/kv/kv.go
@@ -209,5 +209,17 @@ func parseLiteralSource(source string) (keyName, value string, err error) {
 	if len(items) != 2 {
 		return "", "", fmt.Errorf("invalid literal source %v, expected key=value", source)
 	}
-	return items[0], strings.Trim(items[1], "\"'"), nil
+	return items[0], removeQuotes(items[1]), nil
+}
+
+// removeQuotes removes the surrounding quotes from the provided string only if it is surrounded on both sides
+// rather than blindly trimming all quotation marks on either side.
+func removeQuotes(str string) string {
+	if len(str) == 0 || str[0] != str[len(str)-1] {
+		return str
+	}
+	if str[0] == '"' || str[0] == '\'' {
+		return str[1 : len(str)-1]
+	}
+	return str
 }