We cannot overstate our debt to the Past, but the moment has the supreme claim. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims, 1876
You might hold an ethical position that its wrong to lie, but if you have plans for a war in Iraq, and you want to keep them secret for practical reasons – to reduce casualties, perhaps – and someone asks you about those plans, you may need to lie for a good outcome. – Peter Singer
