Authors:
  • What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church ... a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them.

    Martin Luther, cited by his secretary, in a letter in Max Lenz, ed., "Briefwechsel Landgraf Philips des Grossmuthigen von Hessen mit Bucer", vol. 1; in "Lying: Moral Choice In Public and Private Life‎" by Sissela Bok, New York: Pantheon Books, (p. 47), 1978.