Context

This line is from the poem "Tell all the truth but tell it slant—" by Emily Dickinson (1890).

Truth bomb! This particularly explosive technique involves telling the truth, point blank, to someone else, no matter how upsetting it may be. Emily Dickinson isn't fond of the truth bomb. She's an advocate of the less popular truth poison dart. In other words, the Truth, with a capital T, needs to be delivered in a subtle way, not via a massive truth bomb to the face.

Dickinson slyly tells us to tell the T, but not tell it straight—tell it slant.

Where you've heard it

You've heard this when a friend is giving you advice on how to break up with someone, but in a gentle way.

If you're taking a class in creative writing, you might be assigned the book Tell It Slant by Brenda Miller and Suzanna Paola.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

In the poem, Dickinson acts like she knows some great spiritual truth. That's a little pretentious. If you use this quote when giving advice about how to tell someone they have bad breath, you actually sound less pretentious.