diff --git a/pylsp/plugins/pylint_lint.py b/pylsp/plugins/pylint_lint.py
index 70a086cd..76e990c5 100644
--- a/pylsp/plugins/pylint_lint.py
+++ b/pylsp/plugins/pylint_lint.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import re
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 import os
+import shlex
 
 from pylsp import hookimpl, lsp
 
@@ -91,7 +92,7 @@ def lint(cls, document, is_saved, flags=''):
             '-f',
             'json',
             document.path
-        ] + (str(flags).split(' ') if flags else [])
+        ] + (shlex.split(str(flags)) if flags else [])
         log.debug("Calling pylint with '%s'", ' '.join(cmd))
 
         with Popen(cmd, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE,