# Quote — Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

> Pretend to be good always, and even God will be fooled.

- Author: [Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut.md)
- Book: [God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/god-bless-you-mr-rosewater.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#God_Bless_You,_Mr._Rosewater_(1965)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/god-bless-you-mr-rosewater/pretend-to-be-good

## More from this book

> We don't piss in your ashtrays,
>
> So please don't throw cigarettes in our urinals.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/god-bless-you-mr-rosewater/we-dont-piss.md)

> "You must all take instructions from me!" the conscience shrieks, in effect, to all the other mental processes. The other processes try it for a while, note that the conscience is unappeased, that it continues to shriek, and they note, too, that the outside world has not been even microscopically improved by the unselfish acts the conscience has demanded. They rebel at last. They pitch the tyrannous conscience down an oubliette, weld shut the manhole cover of that dark dungeon. They can hear the conscience no more. In the sweet silence, the mental processes look about for a new leader, and the leader most prompt to appear whenever the conscience is stilled, Enlightened Self-interest, does appear. Enlightened Self-interest gives them a flag, which they adore on sight. It is essentially the black and white Jolly Roger, with these words written beneath the skull and crossbones, 'The hell with you, Jack, I've got mine!"

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/god-bless-you-mr-rosewater/you-must-all.md)

> A sum of money is a leading character in this tale about people, just as a sum of honey might properly be a leading character in a tale about bees.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/god-bless-you-mr-rosewater/a-sum-of-money.md)