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An honest lie sounds like a contradiction until you live long enough to understand it.
It is the smile you wear when someone asks if you are fine, and you say yes because explaining the weight in your chest would take too much energy. It is telling a youngster everything will be well even while you are yet praying it would. It is not lies for profit. This is shielding. Sometimes one's own safety. Sometimes defending of oneself.
An honest fib often has good motivations. You have no desire to inflict damage on someone.
But the quiet peril is found here. Little falsehoods distance people also. Truth creates trust. Half-truth gradually corrodes it. Your true voice starts to vanish as you more often lie sincerely. Self-editing turns you into a fluent person.
Timing is wise; distribution is kind. Not every truth has to be unpleasant. Still, truth must exist. Because in the final analysis love without truth is delicate and honesty without courage becomes avoidance.
For a short while, an honest lie may preserve harmony. But just truth generates enduring peace.