On Criticism

[dukealien]

Maybe it is possible, but usually honesty and kindness are opposite alternatives.
Honesty can be brutal, while kindness is often a white lie reinforcing the recipient's delusions.

The classic example of the difference between the two is when a woman asks you: Does this dress make me look fat?
Will your answer be honest, or kind?

No and yes (a very early sonnet)

Yes to Love’s Test


You ask, as not a few, time out of mind,
Of me, your hand-fast love, put to the test,
If this dress makes you look fat.  How can best
I answer the dilemma thus defined?

A “Yes” insults your style and, more unkind,
Concedes you could look ugly badly dressed.
But saying “No” admits I may have guessed
Your shame about your weight.  A hateful bind!

To slip this knot of woe, then, speak, my heart,
And say the gown you’re wearing does indeed
Make you look heavier.  In that I rejoice,
For lately, love, thin, stricken by the dart
Of care you’ve seemed.  I love to see you freed
From that, more shapely.  “Yes” must be my choice.