Quotes are indeed still respected by Google: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433
For example, this search without quotes doesn't mention Dennis Ritchie's NYTimes obituary on the first page of results:
https://www.google.com/search?q=became+more+interested+in+co...
Add quotes and the obituary becomes the first result:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22became+more+interested+in...