diff --git a/lib/inspec/objects/control.rb b/lib/inspec/objects/control.rb
index b1b5634dd..dfb2e0567 100644
--- a/lib/inspec/objects/control.rb
+++ b/lib/inspec/objects/control.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ module Inspec
     def to_ruby
       res = ["control #{id.inspect} do"]
       res.push "  title #{title.inspect}" unless title.to_s.empty?
-      res.push "  desc  #{desc.inspect.gsub('\n', "\n")}" unless desc.to_s.empty?
+      res.push "  desc  #{prettyprint_text(desc, 2)}" unless desc.to_s.empty?
       res.push "  impact #{impact}" unless impact.nil?
       tags.each { |t| res.push(indent(t.to_ruby, 2)) }
       tests.each { |t| res.push(indent(t.to_ruby, 2)) }
@@ -33,6 +33,18 @@ module Inspec
 
     private
 
+    # Pretty-print a text block of InSpec code
+    #
+    # @param s [String] should not be empty
+    # @param depth [Int] indentation length for multiline text blocks
+    # @return [String] pretty-printed textblock
+    def prettyprint_text(s, depth)
+      txt = s.to_s.inspect.gsub('\n', "\n")
+      return txt if !txt.include?("\n")
+      middle = indent(txt[1..-2], depth+2)
+      txt[0] + "\n" + middle + "\n" + ' '*depth + txt[-1]
+    end
+
     def indent(txt, d)
       dt = ' '*d
       dt + txt.gsub("\n", "\n"+dt)
diff --git a/test/unit/dsl/objects_test.rb b/test/unit/dsl/objects_test.rb
index c01faae96..0f04c0426 100644
--- a/test/unit/dsl/objects_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/dsl/objects_test.rb
@@ -254,13 +254,39 @@ end
 '.strip
     end
 
-    it 'constructs a multiline desc in a control' do
+    it 'constructs a multiline desc in a control with indentation' do
       control = Inspec::Control.new
-      control.desc = "Multiline\ncontrol"
+      control.desc = "Multiline\n  control"
       control.to_ruby.must_equal '
 control nil do
-  desc  "Multiline
-control"
+  desc  "
+    Multiline
+      control
+  "
+end
+'.strip
+    end
+
+    it 'ignores empty control descriptions' do
+      control = Inspec::Control.new
+      x = '
+control nil do
+end
+'.strip
+
+      control.desc = ''
+      control.to_ruby.must_equal x
+
+      control.desc = nil
+      control.to_ruby.must_equal x
+    end
+
+    it 'handles non-string descriptions' do
+      control = Inspec::Control.new
+      control.desc = 123
+      control.to_ruby.must_equal '
+control nil do
+  desc  "123"
 end
 '.strip
     end