[De veritate dicenda aut tacenda]

nor is it the same to say "not telling the truth" and "telling the non-truth," because the first is sometimes permitted, while the second is never permitted. For "saying the truth" has two opposites, namely contradictory and contrary. The first is "not saying the truth." The second is "telling the non-truth." Just as "being white" has two opposites, namely the contradictory "not being white" and the contrary, namely "being black." Of which the first posits nothing but is purely negative; the second posits something, just as its contrary. Just as in the present, "saying the truth" has two opposites: the contradictory "not saying the truth," and the contrary which posits something, namely "not saying the truth" [in the sense of] "telling the false." Just as also that command, "Honor your father and mother," has a contradictory, namely "do not honor your father and mother," and this sometimes is not a sin, as when one is sleeping, or when they are not in need, or they do not exist, or sometimes in act a person is not thinking about his parents. The other is the contrary opposite which posits something, namely "dishonor," and this is never licit but is always a sin. Item, as a foundation for what is to be said, this reason must be attended to: because in saying the truth, one must always consider the divine honor or the utility of the neighbor, which consists in two things: namely, in conferring the useful, or in preventing the harmful. Yet, the affirmatives of these are not always equivalent to the negative opposites. For one is not so bound or urged to always honor God in act or to always benefit the neighbor, as one must abstain from their opposites, namely from not honoring God and from harming the neighbor, because a negation denies more than an affirmation posits. For a negation denies all time, but an affirmation does not posit all time, but only according to the circumstances and habits competent to the act, according to the dictate of the wise, as is clear from the definition