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"To tell you the truth..." is one that I think people should do away with.
That, and "to be honest..." and "in fact...."
I see this everywhere in the writing I edit, too, so I spend a lot of time crossing them out.
Always assume people already believe you're telling the truth or that something you're saying is a fact, especially if you are indeed being truthful and it is a fact; otherwise, they might call it into question since you had pointed it out.
Seriously.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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