"Trust, but verify"

[ACFIXR]

"Trust, but verify"

I have read and heard this many times. I think Osiyio said it somewhere but I really dont know where it came from. Anybody know?

[beshvac]

Ronald Reagan i believe

[DeltaT]

Doesn't make any diffference who said it since those words are diametrically opposed.

Needing to verify something that is trusted is acting in a way of not trusting. And acting in a way of not trusting is not trusting.

If you work with one person who states that they turned off the power to something you are about to work on and you have absolute faith in that person you will not verify or check their work. This is typically due to a history of past experience with this person in similar situations.

If you feel necessary to verify the work of another person who is in the same position, then you are not trusting them if you have to go verify their work.

[allan38]

Russian proverb used by Reagan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify

[Wendo]

Doesn't make any diffference who said it since those words are diametrically opposed.

Needing to verify something that is trusted is acting in a way of not trusting. And acting in a way of not trusting is not trusting.

If you work with one person who states that they turned off the power to something you are about to work on and you have absolute faith in that person you will not verify or check their work. This is typically due to a history of past experience with this person in similar situations.

If you feel necessary to verify the work of another person who is in the same position, then you are not trusting them if you have to go verify their work.

What about if I turn the disconnect off but still check for voltage at the contactor? Am I then not trusting myself??? If someone tells me a gun's
not loaded, I still have to treat the gun as though it's loaded.

[ACFIXR]

Any project manager or superintendant (or for that matter anyone that is responsible for "anything") that does not "trust but verify" finds himself in a heap of trouble soon enough.

[Space Racer]

Or, as they say in military leadership training classes,

"Inspect what you expect."

[DeltaT]

What about if I turn the disconnect off but still check for voltage at the contactor? Am I then not trusting myself??? If someone tells me a gun's
not loaded, I still have to treat the gun as though it's loaded.

In actually, I'm agruing against myself as I still, most of the time, do the same thing. But it also applies to the degree in which harm can be done.

If I ask if this person to unlock the roof door so we can get up and down and I trust them, I don't double check. If I don't trust them I check for myself. But little harm can be done if it's a simple case of unlocking the door.

If's it's the two example you present, yep, I still check but that could also be for other reason such as the circuit breaker marked "water pump" might not be marked correctly or there may be another live circuit feeding within the pump box or circuit. So I double check for safety reasons.

But, still, in principal...if you trust the person/situation you don't verify. If you don't trust the person/situation, you verify.

[NicholasMartin]

1) 26474. Gurdjieff, George. The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996
...faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better...

[sweat hog]

I thought that was said by Henry Kissinger. Another that I attribute to him is. "Nations have no friends, only interests". Since we are all our own little nations we need to remember that.

[ACFIXR]

1) 26474. Gurdjieff, George. The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996
...faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better...

Thanks Mr. Martin

We called ourselves ‘The Seekers of Truth!’ another of his quotes.....

"Life Is Real Only When I Am"...........another quote

“man must live till he dies.” .......another

Wow....what a character.....http://www.gurdjieff.org/travers1.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gurdjieff