diff --git a/lib/jekyll.rb b/lib/jekyll.rb
index 3d233517..cdd50c15 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll.rb
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ require 'English'
 # 3rd party
 require 'liquid'
 require 'maruku'
-require 'pygments'
 require 'colorator'
 
 # internal requires
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
index 92d8aec9..0f6f82de 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ module Jekyll
           @config['redcarpet']['extensions'].each { |e| @redcarpet_extensions[e.to_sym] = true }
 
           @renderer ||= Class.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML) do
+            require 'pygments'
+
             def block_code(code, lang)
               lang = lang && lang.split.first || "text"
               output = add_code_tags(
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
index c84ea111..e8059edb 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ eos
       end
 
       def render_pygments(context, code)
+        require 'pygments'
+
         @options[:encoding] = 'utf-8'
 
         output = add_code_tags(