how to create a quoted expression from strings

Given a vector of strings, I would like to create an expression without the quotation marks. 


    # eg, I would like to go from 
    c("string1", "string2")

    # to...
    quote(list(string1, strin2))

I am encountering some difficulty dropping the quotation marks

    input <- c("string1", "string2")
    output <- paste0("quote(list(", paste(input, collapse=","), "))")

    # not quite what I am looking for.     
    as.expression(output)
    expression("quote(list(string1,string2))")

Any help would be appreciated. 
<BR><HR>
**_This is for use in data.table column selection, in case relevant._**
What I am looking for should be able to fit into data.table as follows:

    library(data.table)
    mydt <- data.table(id=1:3, string1=LETTERS[1:3], string2=letters[1:3])

    result <- ????? # some.function.of(input)
    > mydt[ , eval( result )]
       string1 string2
    1:       A       a
    2:       B       b
    3:       C       c


    mydt[, eval(eval(parse(text=output)))]

        mydt[, eval(parse(text=output))]

# UPDATE:

    working off of @Dason 's answer, I could include two `eval` statements in the data.table call. 
'    However, I am looking to apply the modificatino   

    # This works. 
    output <- paste0("quote(list(", paste(input, collapse=","), "))")
    mydt[, eval(eval(parse(text=output)))]

    # but, I would prefer something similar to the following
    #  ie, modifying the `output` variable 
    output <- paste0("eval(quote(list(", paste(input, collapse=","), ")))")
    mydt[, eval(output)]
    #  (this, of course, does does not work)
    
#-----------------------------------------------#

result <- as.call(lapply(c("list", input), as.symbol))
mydt[, eval(result)]
input