Trust, but Verify

Trust, but Verify was a signature phrase of Ronald Reagan. He used it in public, although he was not the first person known to use it. When Reagan used this phrase, he was usually discussing relations with the Soviet Union and he almost always presented it as a translation of the Russian proverb "doveryai, no proveryai" ( _ru. Доверяй, но проверяй) - Trust, but Verify. At the signing of the INF Treaty he used it again and his counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev responded: "You repeat this phrase every time we meet," to which Reagan answered "I like it."Fact|date=February 2008

The phrase has also been attributed to U.S. journalist and fiction writer Damon Runyon, 1884-1946Fact|date=February 2007

"Доверяй, но проверяй" was the Russian title of a 1950 work by Irwin Shaw.Fact|date=August 2007

"Trust, but Verify", is also the name of a 2005 book by David Lindgren "Trust but Verify: Imagery Analysis in the Cold War", about his experiences with satellite imagery during the Cold War, and the basics about them.

This quote was supposedly a favourite one of Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, builder of the Soviet secret police. It is in use in former Czechoslovakia for example.

This quote was also frequently used by military capital defense attorney Major David Edward Coombs when dealing with government counsel. Major Coombs also used this phrase with PBs.

Notes

See also

* Russian sayings
* Glasnost and Perestroika, some other words of Russian origin, gained popularity in USA
* We will bury you!, famous