The most direct and objective way to resolve the problem of whether a false promise is ever consistent with duty is to ask myself: would I be content to have my maxim (to get myself out of diffi cult situations with false promises) become a universal law? Would I dare say to myself that anyone facing an embarrassing situation and seeing no other way out may make a false promise? This immediately makes clear that, while I can defend the lie, I cannot support lying as a universal law. If this law were in effect, there would, in reality, be no promises at all, since it would be pointless for me to make promises to others who would not believe me or, even if they did believe me, might repay me with a false promise of their own. In other words, as soon as my maxim was made into a universal law, it would self-destruct.