diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index b9e22b5..17fd2b4 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -160,10 +160,6 @@
     warnings.warn('Cannot get last updated time from git repository. '
                   'Not setting "html_last_updated_fmt".')
 
-# If true, SmartyPants will be used to convert quotes and dashes to
-# typographically correct entities.
-html_use_smartypants = False
-
 # Custom sidebar templates, maps document names to template names.
 #html_sidebars = {}
 
diff --git a/releasenotes/source/conf.py b/releasenotes/source/conf.py
index d240467..5965a5d 100644
--- a/releasenotes/source/conf.py
+++ b/releasenotes/source/conf.py
@@ -153,10 +153,6 @@
 # using the given strftime format.
 # html_last_updated_fmt = '%b %d, %Y'
 
-# If true, SmartyPants will be used to convert quotes and dashes to
-# typographically correct entities.
-# html_use_smartypants = True
-
 # Custom sidebar templates, maps document names to template names.
 # html_sidebars = {}