diff --git a/elem.go b/elem.go
index 56be5ff..a393439 100644
--- a/elem.go
+++ b/elem.go
@@ -92,15 +92,15 @@ func (n NoneNode) RenderWithOptions(opts RenderOptions) string {
 type TextNode string
 
 func (t TextNode) RenderTo(builder *strings.Builder, opts RenderOptions) {
-	builder.WriteString(string(t))
+	builder.WriteString(EscapeNodeContents(string(t)))
 }
 
 func (t TextNode) Render() string {
-	return string(t)
+	return EscapeNodeContents(string(t))
 }
 
 func (t TextNode) RenderWithOptions(opts RenderOptions) string {
-	return string(t)
+	return EscapeNodeContents(string(t))
 }
 
 type RawNode string
diff --git a/elements.go b/elements.go
index 6b57945..066215d 100644
--- a/elements.go
+++ b/elements.go
@@ -143,7 +143,8 @@ func U(attrs attrs.Props, children ...Node) *Element {
 	return newElement("u", attrs, children...)
 }
 
-// Text creates a TextNode.
+// Text creates a TextNode, content is automatically escaped to ensure safe rendering.
+// For unescaped HTML, use Raw function instead.
 func Text(content string) TextNode {
 	return TextNode(content)
 }
diff --git a/elements_test.go b/elements_test.go
index 223163c..369103c 100644
--- a/elements_test.go
+++ b/elements_test.go
@@ -673,6 +673,24 @@ func TestNoneInDiv(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, expected, actual)
 }
 
+func TestText(t *testing.T) {
+	expected := `<p>Hello, World!</p>`
+	el := P(nil, Text("Hello, World!"))
+	assert.Equal(t, expected, el.Render())
+}
+
+func TestTextWithEscaping(t *testing.T) {
+	expected := `<p>Hello, &lt;em&gt;World!&lt;/em&gt;</p>`
+	el := P(nil, Text("Hello, <em>World!</em>"))
+	assert.Equal(t, expected, el.Render())
+}
+
+func TestTextWithNoQuotesEscaping(t *testing.T) {
+	expected := `<p>'Hello,' "World!"</p>`
+	el := P(nil, Text(`'Hello,' "World!"`))
+	assert.Equal(t, expected, el.Render())
+}
+
 func TestRaw(t *testing.T) {
 	rawHTML := `<div class="test"><p>Test paragraph</p></div>`
 	el := Raw(rawHTML)
diff --git a/utils.go b/utils.go
index 02d99a9..782da40 100644
--- a/utils.go
+++ b/utils.go
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
 package elem
 
+import "strings"
+
+// nodeContentReplacer handles escaping of HTML special characters in text nodes
+// note that single and double quotes (', ") do not need escaping in HTML5 text nodes
+var nodeContentReplacer = strings.NewReplacer(
+	"&", "&amp;",
+	"<", "&lt;",
+	// technically, > does not need escaping in HTML5, but we do it for consistency
+	">", "&gt;",
+)
+
 // If conditionally renders one of the provided elements based on the condition
 func If[T any](condition bool, ifTrue, ifFalse T) T {
 	if condition {
@@ -16,3 +27,8 @@ func TransformEach[T any](items []T, fn func(T) Node) []Node {
 	}
 	return nodes
 }
+
+// EscapeNodeContents escapes HTML5 special characters in a string to ensure safe rendering as a text node
+func EscapeNodeContents(s string) string {
+	return nodeContentReplacer.Replace(s)
+}