diff --git a/cheat b/cheat
index 2f5062d..9f78aaa 100755
--- a/cheat
+++ b/cheat
@@ -2,10 +2,14 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
-from pygments import highlight
-from pygments.util import ClassNotFound
-from pygments.lexers import get_lexer_for_filename, TextLexer
-from pygments.formatters import TerminalFormatter
+try:
+    from pygments import highlight
+    from pygments.util import ClassNotFound
+    from pygments.lexers import get_lexer_for_filename, TextLexer
+    from pygments.formatters import TerminalFormatter
+    USE_PYGMENTS = True
+except ImportError:
+    USE_PYGMENTS = False
 
 
 def cheat_directories():
@@ -63,7 +67,12 @@ def main():
     # print the cheatsheet if it exists
     if keyphrase in cheatsheets:
         filename = os.path.join(cheatsheets[keyphrase], keyphrase)
-        pretty_print(filename)
+        if USE_PYGMENTS:
+            pretty_print(filename)
+        else:
+            with open(filename) as istream:
+                for l in istream:
+                    sys.stdout.write(l)
 
     # if it does not, say so
     else:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4b10199..f4fd1c8 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -12,6 +12,5 @@ setup(name='cheat',
       packages=['cheatsheets'],
       package_data={'cheatsheets': [f for f in os.listdir('cheatsheets')
                                     if '.' not in f]},
-      install_requires=['Pygments>=1.6'],
       scripts=['cheat']
      )