diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sankey/parser/sankey.jison b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sankey/parser/sankey.jison
index 3adc6a406..53c427729 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sankey/parser/sankey.jison
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sankey/parser/sankey.jison
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 (?:<<EOF>>|[\n;])+               { return 'EOS'; } // end of statement is ; \n or end of file
 \s+                                                // skip all whitespace
 "{"                              { this.pushState('group'); return 'OPEN_GROUP'; }
-<group>"}"                       { this.popState('group'); return 'CLOSE_GROUP'; }
+<group>"}"                       { this.popState(); return 'CLOSE_GROUP'; }
 "["                              { this.pushState('attributes'); return 'OPEN_ATTRIBUTES'; }
 <attributes>"]"                  { this.popState(); return 'CLOSE_ATTRIBUTES'; }
 <attributes>\w+                  { return 'ATTRIBUTE'; }
@@ -30,8 +30,12 @@
 <value>[\w]+                     { this.popState(); return 'VALUE';}
 <value>\s+                       //skip
 <value>\"                        { this.pushState('string'); return 'OPEN_STRING'; }
-<string>\"                       { this.popState(); return 'CLOSE_STRING'; }
-<string>[\w\s]+(?=\")            { return 'STRING'; }
+<string>(?!\\)\" {
+	if(this.topState()==='string') this.popState();
+	if(this.topState()==='value') this.popState();
+	return 'CLOSE_STRING';
+}
+<string>([^"\\]|\\\")+                    { console.log(this.state); return 'STRING'; }
 
 // TODO: check if jison will return 2 separate tokens (for nodes) while ignoring whitespace
 
@@ -60,12 +64,9 @@ line
 node_with_attributes: NODE OPEN_ATTRIBUTES attributes CLOSE_ATTRIBUTES;
 
 attributes: attribute attributes | ;
-attribute: ATTRIBUTE EQUAL VALUE | ATTRIBUTE;
+attribute: ATTRIBUTE EQUAL value | ATTRIBUTE;
 
-// flow
-// 	: NODE ARROW value_or_values_group ARROW flow
-// 	| NODE
-// 	;
+value: VALUE | OPEN_STRING STRING CLOSE_STRING;
 
 flow: n_chain_a;
 
diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sankey/parser/sankey.spec.js b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sankey/parser/sankey.spec.js
index 4cd1befae..576862fd8 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sankey/parser/sankey.spec.js
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/sankey/parser/sankey.spec.js
@@ -38,22 +38,35 @@ describe('Sankey diagram', function () {
       parser.parse(str);
     });
     
-    it('recognizes a separate node with its attributes', () => {
-      const str = `
-      sankey
-      node[]
-      node[attr=1]
-      node[attr=2]
-      a -> 30 -> b
-      node[attrWithoutValue]
-      node[attr = 3]
-      node[attr1 = 23413 attr2=1234]
-      node[x1dfqowie attr1 = 23413 attr2]
-      `;
-      
-      parser.parse(str);
+    describe('while attributes parsing', () => {
+      it('parses different quotless variations', () => {
+        const str = `
+        sankey
+        node[]
+        node[attr=1]
+        a -> 30 -> b
+        node[attrWithoutValue]
+        node[attr = 3]
+        node[attr1 = 23413 attr2=1234]
+        node[x1dfqowie attr1 = 23413 attr2]
+        `;
+        
+        parser.parse(str);
+      });
+
+      it('parses strings as values', () => {
+        const str = `
+        sankey
+        node[attr="hello, how are you?"]
+        node[attr="hello\\""]
+        `;
+        
+        parser.parse(str);
+      });
     });
 
+    
+    
     // it('recognizes grouped values', () => {
     //   const str = `
     //   sankey