diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/cbook.py b/lib/matplotlib/cbook.py
index 0e8c0f50e150..22048b408e6e 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/cbook.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/cbook.py
@@ -1014,6 +1014,7 @@ def mkdirs(newdir, mode=0o777):
             if exception.errno != errno.EEXIST:
                 raise
 
+
 class GetRealpathAndStat(object):
     def __init__(self):
         self._cache = {}
@@ -1734,7 +1735,7 @@ def recursive_remove(path):
                 os.removedirs(fname)
             else:
                 os.remove(fname)
-        #os.removedirs(path)
+        # os.removedirs(path)
     else:
         os.remove(path)
 
@@ -2701,3 +2702,19 @@ def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_value, traceback):
                     os.rmdir(path)
                 except OSError:
                     pass
+
+
+def _check_array(obj):
+    """
+    Helper function to check whether the input is an array or
+    can be casted to an array type object.
+    
+    If it is not an array or cannot be casted to an array 
+    type obejct, it will raise an error to notify users that
+    they should use array. Otherwise, it will return the casted
+    array type object.
+    """
+    cast_obj = np.asanyarray(obj)
+    if isinstance(cast_obj, np.matrix):
+        raise ValueError("The input cannot be matrix")
+    return cast_obj
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/quiver.py b/lib/matplotlib/quiver.py
index 594ca8744ef2..0f0472ae7923 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/quiver.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/quiver.py
@@ -372,12 +372,13 @@ def _parse_args(*args):
     X, Y, U, V, C = [None] * 5
     args = list(args)
 
-    # The use of atleast_1d allows for handling scalar arguments while also
-    # keeping masked arrays
-    if len(args) == 3 or len(args) == 5:
+    if len(args) == 2 or len(args) == 4:
+        V = np.atleast_1d(args.pop(-1))
+        U = np.atleast_1d(args.pop(-1))
+    elif len(args) == 3 or len(args) == 5:
         C = np.atleast_1d(args.pop(-1))
-    V = np.atleast_1d(args.pop(-1))
-    U = np.atleast_1d(args.pop(-1))
+        V = np.atleast_1d(args.pop(-1))
+        U = np.atleast_1d(args.pop(-1))
     if U.ndim == 1:
         nr, nc = 1, U.shape[0]
     else:
@@ -389,6 +390,9 @@ def _parse_args(*args):
     else:
         indexgrid = np.meshgrid(np.arange(nc), np.arange(nr))
         X, Y = [np.ravel(a) for a in indexgrid]
+    cbook._check_array(U)
+    cbook._check_array(V)
+    cbook._check_array(C)
     return X, Y, U, V, C