betray the truth. To what then shall one have recourse?

Let us remark in the first place that God has endowed human
intelligence with a native wit, sharpness and cunning that has its
legitimate uses, the exercise of this faculty is evil only when its
methods and ends are evil. Used along the lines of moral rectitude
strategy and tact for profiting by circumstances are perfectly in
order, especially when one acts in the defense of his natural rights.
And if this talent is employed without injustice to the neighbor or
violence to the law of God, it is no more immoral than the plain
telling of truth; in fact it is sometimes better than telling the
truth.

But it must be understood that such practices must be justified by the
circumstances. They suppose in him who resorts thereto a right to
withhold information that overrides the right of his interrogator. If
the right of the latter to know is superior, then the hiding of truth
would constitute an injustice, which is sinful, and this is considered
tantamount to lying. And if the means to which we resort is not lying,
as we have defined it, that is, does not show a contradiction between
what we say and what we mean, then there can be no fear of evil on any
side.

Now, suppose that instead of using a term whose signification is
contrary to what my mind conceives, which would be falsehood, I employ
a word that has a natural double meaning, one of which is conform to my
mind, the other at variance. In the first place, I do not speak against
my mind; I say what I think; the word I use means what I mean. But the
other fellow! that is another matter. He may take his choice of the two
meanings. If he guesses aright, my artifice has failed; if he is
deceived, that is his loss. I do him no injustice, for he had no right
to question me. If my answer embarrasses him, that is just what I
intended, and I am guilty of no evil for that; if it deceives him, that
I did not intend but willingly suffer; I am not obliged to enter into
explanations when I am not even bound to answer him. Of the deception,
he alone is the cause; I am the occasion, if you will, but the
circumstances of his inquisitiveness made that occasion necessary, and
I am not responsible.

This artifice is called equivocation or amphibology; it consists in the
use of words that have a natural double meaning; it supposes in him who
resorts to it the right to conceal the truth, a right superior to that
of the tormentor wh