You’ll forget most compliments. You’ll keep the one that came when you needed it.

Praise lands differently depending on the state it finds you in. Most of it washes over a day that was already fine. The one you keep for twenty years arrived on an afternoon when you had decided you were no good at anything. Timing, not wording, makes a kind sentence permanent.

Since you cannot tell who is in that state, say the thing out loud instead of assuming they know. Tell one person something specific you have noticed about them this week.