diff --git a/libguile/vm-engine.c b/libguile/vm-engine.c
index 87e94ff2e..541e11cc8 100644
--- a/libguile/vm-engine.c
+++ b/libguile/vm-engine.c
@@ -1995,13 +1995,11 @@ VM_NAME (scm_i_thread *thread, struct scm_vm *vp,
 
           if (!scm_module_system_booted_p)
             {
-#ifdef VM_ENABLE_PARANOID_ASSERTIONS
-              ASSERT
-                (scm_is_true
-                 scm_equal_p (modname,
-                              scm_list_2 (SCM_BOOL_T,
-                                          scm_from_utf8_symbol ("guile"))));
-#endif
+              ASSERT (scm_is_true
+                      scm_equal_p (modname,
+                                   scm_list_2
+                                   (SCM_BOOL_T,
+                                    scm_from_utf8_symbol ("guile"))));
               var = scm_lookup (sym);
             }
           else if (scm_is_true (SCM_CAR (modname)))
diff --git a/libguile/vm.c b/libguile/vm.c
index af1531ba9..e568655bb 100644
--- a/libguile/vm.c
+++ b/libguile/vm.c
@@ -60,9 +60,7 @@ static SCM sym_debug;
 
 /* The VM has a number of internal assertions that shouldn't normally be
    necessary, but might be if you think you found a bug in the VM. */
-#define VM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS
-
-/* #define VM_ENABLE_PARANOID_ASSERTIONS */
+/* #define VM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS */
 
 static void vm_expand_stack (struct scm_vm *vp, SCM *new_sp) SCM_NOINLINE;