diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index d56f208f..96d65fd4 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ The Monitoring Persister consumes metrics and alarm state transitions
 from the Message Queue and stores them in the Metrics and Alarms
 database.
 
-Although the Persister isn’t primarily a Web service it uses DropWizard,
+Although the Persister isn't primarily a Web service it uses DropWizard,
 https://dropwizard.github.io/dropwizard/, which provides a nice Web
 application framework to expose an http endpoint that provides an
 interface through which metrics about the Persister can be queried as
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ java/src/deb/etc/persister-config.yml-sample.
 
 A second configuration file is provided in
 java/src/main/resources/persister-config.yml for use with the `vagrant
-“mini-mon” development environment`_.
+"mini-mon" development environment`_.
 
 TODO
 ====
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ License
 
 Copyright (c) 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
 
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
 not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
 a copy of the License at
 
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ a copy of the License at
    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 
 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS,
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
@@ -100,4 +100,4 @@ To run the unit tests use:
 
    $ tox -e py27,py35
 
-.. _vagrant “mini-mon” development environment: https://github.com/openstack/monasca-vagrant/
\ No newline at end of file
+.. _vagrant "mini-mon" development environment: https://github.com/openstack/monasca-vagrant/