diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index d46bcf8a94..f94258fbb7 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1312,8 +1312,7 @@ AC_SUBST(CURVE25519_LIBS)
 dnl Make sure to enable support for large off_t if available.
 AC_SYS_LARGEFILE
 
-AC_CHECK_HEADERS([assert.h \
-                  errno.h \
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([errno.h \
                   fcntl.h \
                   signal.h \
                   string.h \
diff --git a/src/common/address.c b/src/common/address.c
index 2e8b5fc9f5..f135f1ffd1 100644
--- a/src/common/address.c
+++ b/src/common/address.c
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 
 /* tor_addr_is_null() and maybe other functions rely on AF_UNSPEC being 0 to
  * work correctly. Bail out here if we've found a platform where AF_UNSPEC
diff --git a/src/common/aes.c b/src/common/aes.c
index c0851c5421..bdefc2b555 100644
--- a/src/common/aes.c
+++ b/src/common/aes.c
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 
 DISABLE_GCC_WARNING(redundant-decls)
 
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <openssl/aes.h>
diff --git a/src/common/compat.c b/src/common/compat.c
index 9b1a4d860f..dece798bcd 100644
--- a/src/common/compat.c
+++ b/src/common/compat.c
@@ -111,7 +111,6 @@ SecureZeroMemory(PVOID ptr, SIZE_T cnt)
 #endif
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #ifdef HAVE_SIGNAL_H
 #include <signal.h>
 #endif
diff --git a/src/common/compress.c b/src/common/compress.c
index 204529a54d..44bb891af4 100644
--- a/src/common/compress.c
+++ b/src/common/compress.c
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include "common/torint.h"
 
diff --git a/src/common/container.c b/src/common/container.c
index 03324c8730..b1a2ac7994 100644
--- a/src/common/container.c
+++ b/src/common/container.c
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 
 #include "ht.h"
 
diff --git a/src/common/log.c b/src/common/log.c
index 2f5fdbc17d..6aa2203a59 100644
--- a/src/common/log.c
+++ b/src/common/log.c
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 
 #include "orconfig.h"
 #include <stdarg.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 // #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
diff --git a/src/common/tortls.c b/src/common/tortls.c
index b22a5aa7c9..419d9c9316 100644
--- a/src/common/tortls.c
+++ b/src/common/tortls.c
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 #define TORTLS_PRIVATE
 #define TORTLS_OPENSSL_PRIVATE
 
-#include <assert.h>
 #ifdef _WIN32 /*wrkard for dtls1.h >= 0.9.8m of "#include <winsock.h>"*/
   #include <winsock2.h>
   #include <ws2tcpip.h>
diff --git a/src/common/util.c b/src/common/util.c
index 5bf70c6b5d..7d10a9e246 100644
--- a/src/common/util.c
+++ b/src/common/util.c
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #include <signal.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_NETINET_IN_H
diff --git a/src/or/or.h b/src/or/or.h
index dc6d353cd9..33a674d146 100644
--- a/src/or/or.h
+++ b/src/or/or.h
@@ -51,9 +51,6 @@
 #ifdef HAVE_ERRNO_H
 #include <errno.h>
 #endif
-#ifdef HAVE_ASSERT_H
-#include <assert.h>
-#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_TIME_H
 #include <time.h>
 #endif
@@ -3331,4 +3328,3 @@ typedef enum was_router_added_t {
 typedef struct tor_version_t tor_version_t;
 
 #endif /* !defined(TOR_OR_H) */
-
diff --git a/src/tools/tor-gencert.c b/src/tools/tor-gencert.c
index e1d3e54d8e..07db3624ba 100644
--- a/src/tools/tor-gencert.c
+++ b/src/tools/tor-gencert.c
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ ENABLE_GCC_WARNING(redundant-decls)
 #if 0
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 #endif
 
 #include "common/util.h"
diff --git a/src/tools/tor-resolve.c b/src/tools/tor-resolve.c
index dfca7d7925..85ff141671 100644
--- a/src/tools/tor-resolve.c
+++ b/src/tools/tor-resolve.c
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include <assert.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_NETINET_IN_H
 #include <netinet/in.h>