"Hardly ever" saves many a lie.

Understand the thought

Meaning in plain English

A careful qualification such as hardly ever can prevent an exaggerated claim from becoming false. Use it when it accurately describes the exceptions, rather than as a convenient way to hide them.

What the words are saying

The phrase hardly ever allows for occurrences that never would deny. The proverb notices how a small change in wording can make an account more faithful to experience. It can encourage precision when someone is tempted to use an absolute for emphasis. The qualification does not automatically make a statement honest: a speaker could use it to minimise something frequent or important. The useful question is whether the words give a fair impression of the actual pattern. Relevant exceptions may still need explaining when another person depends on them, rather than being tucked away behind a reassuring general phrase.

Everyday example

A volunteer describes a room as rarely unavailable and mentions the known closure date, rather than saying it is never unavailable or using a qualification to conceal the exception.

When to use it

Use it to replace an inaccurate absolute with a truthful description of the pattern.

Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.