This I recognize as the limit to which mental reservation
can be pushed, when it is borne in mind that only motives as
serious and grave as the saving of an innocent life, the reten-
tion of a close secret, liable if revealed to undo somebody, the
life of a state, can counterbalance, the baneful effects not of a
lie ; for, I repeat it, no lie is told ; but of the apparent unkind-
ness contained in the very act of giving to the person ad-
dressed an opportunity to go astray, and fervently wishing
that he may do so. The preservation of a cigarette is not
motive enough for a broad mental reservation. For a pure
mental reservation, between which and a lie I can see no
difference, even the preservation of the innocent is not mo-
tive enough. Remark, however, that, when an innocent life
is at stake, common charity obliges you to take all legitimate
means to its defense; and, therefore, common charity im-
peratively demands a broad mental reservation, that namely



PROOF AND PRINCIPLES 235

which through the agency of some external sign leaves it pos-
sible for the person deceived to avoid deception.
