diff --git a/protos/SignalService.proto b/protos/SignalService.proto
index d9a349142da4..b19f050322ae 100644
--- a/protos/SignalService.proto
+++ b/protos/SignalService.proto
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ message DataMessage {
     }
 
     optional uint64           id          = 1;
-    optional string           author      = 2;
+    reserved                  /* author */  2; // removed
     optional string           authorUuid  = 5;
     optional string           text        = 3;
     repeated QuotedAttachment attachments = 4;
diff --git a/ts/components/conversation/Quote.stories.tsx b/ts/components/conversation/Quote.stories.tsx
index 52d20174bb65..84e48cb64636 100644
--- a/ts/components/conversation/Quote.stories.tsx
+++ b/ts/components/conversation/Quote.stories.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-// Copyright 2020 Signal Messenger, LLC
+// Copyright 2020-2021 Signal Messenger, LLC
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
 
 import * as React from 'react';
+import { isString } from 'lodash';
 
 import { action } from '@storybook/addon-actions';
 import { boolean, text } from '@storybook/addon-knobs';
@@ -127,7 +128,12 @@ const createProps = (overrideProps: Partial<Props> = {}): Props => ({
     'referencedMessageNotFound',
     overrideProps.referencedMessageNotFound || false
   ),
-  text: text('text', overrideProps.text || 'A sample message from a pal'),
+  text: text(
+    'text',
+    isString(overrideProps.text)
+      ? overrideProps.text
+      : 'A sample message from a pal'
+  ),
   withContentAbove: boolean(
     'withContentAbove',
     overrideProps.withContentAbove || false
@@ -192,6 +198,7 @@ story.add('Content Above', () => {
 
 story.add('Image Only', () => {
   const props = createProps({
+    text: '',
     rawAttachment: {
       contentType: IMAGE_PNG,
       fileName: 'sax.png',
@@ -202,8 +209,6 @@ story.add('Image Only', () => {
       },
     },
   });
-  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
-  props.text = undefined as any;
 
   return <Quote {...props} />;
 });
diff --git a/ts/model-types.d.ts b/ts/model-types.d.ts
index 41a9d4bba977..d14551862a7a 100644
--- a/ts/model-types.d.ts
+++ b/ts/model-types.d.ts
@@ -88,7 +88,9 @@ export type MessageAttributesType = {
   profileChange: ProfileNameChangeType;
   quote: {
     attachments: Array<typeof window.WhatIsThis>;
-    author: string;
+    // `author` is an old attribute that holds the author's E164. We shouldn't use it for
+    //   new messages, but old messages might have this attribute.
+    author?: string;
     authorUuid: string;
     bodyRanges: BodyRangesType;
     id: string;
diff --git a/ts/models/messages.ts b/ts/models/messages.ts
index 58d51af5db1e..f7234f386081 100644
--- a/ts/models/messages.ts
+++ b/ts/models/messages.ts
@@ -1234,7 +1234,7 @@ export class MessageModel extends window.Backbone.Model<MessageAttributesType> {
 
     const thumbnailWithObjectUrl =
       !path && !objectUrl
-        ? null
+        ? undefined
         : { ...(attachment.thumbnail || {}), objectUrl: path || objectUrl };
 
     return {
@@ -2026,19 +2026,6 @@ export class MessageModel extends window.Backbone.Model<MessageAttributesType> {
     return window.ConversationController.getOrCreate(source, 'private');
   }
 
-  getQuoteContact(): ConversationModel | undefined | null {
-    const quote = this.get('quote');
-    if (!quote) {
-      return null;
-    }
-    const { author } = quote;
-    if (!author) {
-      return null;
-    }
-
-    return window.ConversationController.get(author);
-  }
-
   // Send infrastructure
   // One caller today: event handler for the 'Retry Send' entry in triple-dot menu
   async retrySend(): Promise<string | null | void | Array<void>> {
diff --git a/ts/textsecure.d.ts b/ts/textsecure.d.ts
index 68f2b1475201..b8840fe8072e 100644
--- a/ts/textsecure.d.ts
+++ b/ts/textsecure.d.ts
@@ -720,7 +720,6 @@ export declare namespace DataMessageClass {
   // Note: deep nesting
   class Quote {
     id: ProtoBigNumberType | null;
-    author: string | null;
     authorUuid: string | null;
     text: string | null;
     attachments?: Array<DataMessageClass.Quote.QuotedAttachment>;
diff --git a/ts/textsecure/SendMessage.ts b/ts/textsecure/SendMessage.ts
index 77ab3106cec4..f6948adc4bca 100644
--- a/ts/textsecure/SendMessage.ts
+++ b/ts/textsecure/SendMessage.ts
@@ -158,7 +158,6 @@ class Message {
 
   quote?: {
     id?: number;
-    author?: string;
     authorUuid?: string;
     text?: string;
     attachments?: Array<AttachmentType>;
@@ -337,7 +336,6 @@ class Message {
       const { quote } = proto;
 
       quote.id = this.quote.id || null;
-      quote.author = this.quote.author || null;
       quote.authorUuid = this.quote.authorUuid || null;
       quote.text = this.quote.text || null;
       quote.attachments = (this.quote.attachments || []).map(