diff --git a/poetry/utils/_compat.py b/poetry/utils/_compat.py
index 24759f5e641..ba291d5f522 100644
--- a/poetry/utils/_compat.py
+++ b/poetry/utils/_compat.py
@@ -46,15 +46,11 @@
 
 WINDOWS = sys.platform == "win32"
 
-if PY2:
-    import pipes
-
-    shell_quote = pipes.quote
-else:
-    import shlex
-
-    shell_quote = shlex.quote
-
+try:
+    from shlex import quote
+except ImportError:
+    # PY2
+    from pipes import quote  # noqa
 
 if PY34:
     from importlib.machinery import EXTENSION_SUFFIXES
@@ -288,4 +284,18 @@ def to_str(string):
 
 
 def list_to_shell_command(cmd):
-    return " ".join(shell_quote(token) if " " in token else token for token in cmd)
+    tokens = []
+
+    idx = 0
+    for idx, token in enumerate(cmd):
+        if token == "-":
+            tokens.append(token)
+            break
+        tokens.append(
+            quote(token) if " " in token and token[0] not in {"'", '"'} else token
+        )
+
+    if idx < len(cmd) - 1:
+        tokens.extend(cmd[idx:])
+
+    return " ".join(tokens)