trust but verify

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a diplomatic maxim popularised by US President Ronald Reagan during arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union in the 1980s, drawn from a Russian proverb doveryai, no proveryai; the phrase encapsulates a pragmatic approach to negotiation and agreements in which a degree of good faith is extended to the other party while independent verification mechanisms — inspections, monitoring, audits — are maintained to confirm compliance; in business and legal contexts trust but verify describes the practice of extending working relationships and credit to counterparties while conducting due diligence, audits, and performance monitoring rather than relying solely on stated intentions and reputation; the phrase acknowledges that relationships require some element of trust to function but that prudent actors do not rely on trust alone