SQL: Are the "" around table & coloumnames necessary? - Mailing list pgsql-sql

Hello,

when I  write a select for example, 
it doesn't work this way:
  select col1, col2      from my_table;

instead of that I have to write
  select "col1", "col2"      from "my_table";

I dont understand this...is there a way to use
the more comfortable form without "" ?

thx

...Mike