Have you ever just been reading along, enjoying your novel, and been confronted with a profound truth?  That’s one of my favorite things.  Here’s one I found recently that I wanted to share with you.

Precious looked at the house.   It was not very large and she wondered how everybody could fit inside.  But she did not want to say anything about that, as people are usually proud of their houses and do not like other people (and that means us) to point out that their houses are too small, or too uncomfortable, or the wrong shape.

And so she said, “That’s a nice house, Teb.”

That was not a lie.  It is not a lie to say something nice to somebody.  You have to remember that you can usually find something good to say about anything if you look hard enough.  And it’s kind too, and Precious Ramotswe was a kind girl, as everybody knew.

Alexander McCall Smith
The Mystery of Meerkat Hill, p.24