White lies are a sub-optimal solution to a complex problem. They’re true at some levels of analysis but they’re false at others. … I can use the truth to hurt you. But then what I’m doing is like a white lie, it’s like a black truth, let’s call it that. … It’s true on three levels of analysis — usually sub-levels — and not true on a really profound level. So I can say, ‘I’m just telling you this for your own good,’ but I picked a context, or a state of vulnerability that I know you’re in, in which delivery of that message has an undermining effect. And I know that. ‘Well it was true…’ Well, no. All things considered, it wasn’t true. Some things considered, it was true. And a white lie is the inverse of that. On some levels it’s true. [But] it would be wrong of me to hurt your feelings over such a trivial issue.