diff --git a/sqlmesh/core/macros.py b/sqlmesh/core/macros.py
index 1f8908af4e..234290cdde 100644
--- a/sqlmesh/core/macros.py
+++ b/sqlmesh/core/macros.py
@@ -240,8 +240,7 @@ def evaluate_macros(
                 text = self.template(node.this, {})
                 if node.this != text:
                     changed = True
-                    node.args["this"] = text
-                    return node
+                    return exp.to_identifier(text, quoted=node.quoted or None)
             if node.is_string:
                 text = node.this
                 if has_jinja(text):
@@ -1389,6 +1388,10 @@ def _convert_sql(v: t.Any, dialect: DialectType) -> t.Any:
             pass
 
     if isinstance(v, exp.Expression):
+        if (isinstance(v, exp.Column) and not v.table) or (
+            isinstance(v, exp.Identifier) or v.is_string
+        ):
+            return v.name
         v = v.sql(dialect=dialect)
     return v
 
diff --git a/tests/core/test_macros.py b/tests/core/test_macros.py
index e05b51e6e1..c295e4865b 100644
--- a/tests/core/test_macros.py
+++ b/tests/core/test_macros.py
@@ -1082,3 +1082,24 @@ def test_resolve_template_table():
         evaluator.transform(parsed_sql).sql(identify=True)
         == 'SELECT * FROM "test_catalog"."sqlmesh__test"."test__test_model__2517971505$partitions"'
     )
+
+
+def test_macro_with_spaces():
+    evaluator = MacroEvaluator()
+    evaluator.evaluate(d.parse_one(""" @DEF(x, "a b") """))
+    evaluator.evaluate(d.parse_one(""" @DEF(y, 'a b') """))
+    evaluator.evaluate(d.parse_one(""" @DEF(z, a."b c") """))
+
+    for sql, expected in (
+        ("@x", '"a b"'),
+        ("@{x}", '"a b"'),
+        ("a_@x", '"a_a b"'),
+        ("a.@x", 'a."a b"'),
+        ("@y", "'a b'"),
+        ("@{y}", '"a b"'),  # a little tricky here as it's not a string
+        ("a_@y", '"a_a b"'),
+        ("a.@{y}", 'a."a b"'),
+        ("@z", 'a."b c"'),
+        ("d.@z", 'd.a."b c"'),
+    ):
+        assert evaluator.transform(parse_one(sql)).sql() == expected